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Quick & curious · Nature

Tardigrades survived the vacuum of space.

Ten days without air: back on Earth, water was enough to revive the tiny animals.

Scanning electron micrograph of a tardigrade
Image: Schokraie E, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Grohme MA, Hengherr S, et al. (2012) · CC BY 2.5 · Original

10daysin the vacuum of space

The story behind it

Tardigrades have survived the vacuum of space.

In 2007 the tiny animals flew into space on the FOTON-M3 mission and were exposed to vacuum for ten days. Back on Earth, water was enough to revive them.

Sources

Every statement in this discovery is backed by one of these sources and was checked before publication.

  1. Wikipedia: Tardigrades in space (accessed 2026-10-05)
  2. Wikipedia: Tardigrade (accessed 2026-10-05)

Image credits

  • “SEM image of Milnesium tardigradum in active state - journal.pone.0045682.g001-2.png”, Schokraie E, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Grohme MA, Hengherr S, et al. (2012), CC BY 2.5