Russia retrieves mice, lizards from space in preparation for Mars mission — all are dead 
 
 Speaking late Sunday, Russian space officials announced the return of a number of creatures from space, saying most died during their time in space. 
 
 Russian television stations showed the Bion-M capsule returning to Earth carrying 45 mice, 15 newts, snails, lizards, plants, microflora, and eight gerbils. The experiment, aimed at testing the effects of weightlessness and other effects of spaceflight on cell structure, left nearly all of the creatures dead. 
 
 According to early reports, a majority of the mice and newts failed to survive, while all of the gerbils perished. Russian officials say most of the dead creatures died due to stresses incurred during an equipment failure. The surviving creatures were taken to a nearby lab for testing. 
 
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 It remains unclear exactly what information scientists will gain from the experiment. The experiment, conducted 357 miles above Earth, was crafted to focus on the effects of microgravity on the skeletal and nervous systems as well as organisms’ muscles and hearts. Similar experiments conducted by scientists on the International Space Station (ISS) show some creatures are able to survive space travel. Anita and Arabella, two female cross spiders (Araneus diadematus) went into orbit in 1973 for Skylab 3, part of a Russian-led space mission aimed at examining how which creatures were able to survive extended periods of time in low-Earth orbit space. 
 
 The mission represents one of the most advanced missions conducted by Russian scientists. According to Russian state media, it was dubbed a unique mission that no other country had yet completed. The mission lasted upwards of one month, longer than the 12 days Russian mice were exposed space in 2007. 
 
 According to French scientists, the mice were part of a France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) space center. CNES said the creatures used in the experiment made it impossible to use the ISS, which could have posed a risk to astronauts. 
 
 Some sources have suggested that the experiment was part of a much larger mission for the Russian space agency. The experiment may provide Russian scientists with a better understanding of how humans will fare in a mission to Mars, which could leave astronauts exposed to the harshness of space for more than six months. A number of international space agencies have already announced plans to examine how humans will fare for long periods of time, citing the need to better understand how the effects of weightlessness on human bodies. 
 
 To date, the Russian space agency has announced plans to send a series of probes and rovers to the Red Planet. Russian officials are hoping to send a rover to bore beneath the Red Planet’s surface for soil samples in 2016 and 2018. Russia has also announced plans to begin building a base on the moon in 2030, possibly creating a launching pad for future missions to Mars. 
 
 While the creatures did not survive, the spacecraft itself landed safely with the help of a special parachute system in the Orenburg region located 750 miles outside of Moscow. 
 
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 ||||| A number of mice and eight gerbils sent into space in a Russian capsule destined to find out how well organisms can withstand extended flights perished during their journey, scientists said Sunday as the month-long mission touched back down on Earth. 
 
 Most of the 45 mice sent into orbit—along with the gerbils and 15 newts—died on the mission, which nevertheless returned with data that scientists hope will pave the way for a manned flight to Mars. 
 
 The animals on board the Bion-M craft died because of equipment failure or due to the stresses of space, scientists said. 
 
 The craft itself landed softly early on Sunday with the help of a special parachute system in the Orenburg region about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) southeast of Moscow. 
 
 It was also carrying snails, some plants and microflora. 
 
 "This is the first time that animals have been put in space on their own for so long," Vladimir Sychov of the Russian Academy of Sciences announced upon the peculiar crew's return to Earth. 
 
 But at the end of the experiment, "less than half of the mice made it—but that was to be expected," Sychov told Russian news agencies. 
 
 "Unfortunately, because of equipment failure, we lost all the gerbils." 
 
 The TsSKB-Progress space research centre's department head, Valery Abrashkin, said on the day the mission took off in April that the study was aimed at determining how bodies adapt to weightlessness "so that our organisms survive extended flights". 
 
 The space adventure has been widely praised by Russian state media as a unique experiment that no other country has yet pulled off. 
 
 Russia last sent mice into space in 2007 for a much shorter duration of 12 days. 
 
 France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) space centre said 15 of the 45 mice came from a French research lab that is cooperating with the study. 
 
 CNES life science department head Guillemette Gauquelin-Koch said the project took "a further decisive step in human adaptation to weightlessness". 
 
 Scientists from both countries said the animals were used as it was impossible to conduct the experiment on the humans who are currently operating the International Space Station (ISS). 
 
 They added that the mice would have posed a health risk if simply placed on board the ISS for a month. 
 
 The experiment's designers said the tests primarily focused on how microgravity impacts the skeletal and nervous systems as well as organisms' muscles and hearts. 
 
 The animals were stored inside five special containers that automatically opened after reaching orbit and closed once it was time to return. 
 
 Also on board were over two dozen measuring devices and other scientific objects that measured everything from heart rates and blood pressure to radiation levels. 
 
 The capsule spun 575 kilometres (357 miles) above Earth. 
 
 Officials at France's CNES said a new mission with microorganisms may be launched by Russia next year. 
 
 Russia has long set its sights on Mars and is now targeting 2030 as the year in which it could begin creating a base on the Moon for flights to the Red Planet. 
 
 But recent problems with its once-vaunted space programme—including the embarrassing failure of a research satellite that Moscow tried sending up to one of Mars's moons last year—have threatened Russia's future exploration efforts. 
 
 Russia's trials and tribulations are watched closely by other space-faring nations because the Soyuz rocket on which the animals went up represents the world's only manned link to the constantly-staffed ISS. 
 
 
 
 Explore further: Dust cloud, aurora detected around Mars ||||| A Russian capsule carrying mice, lizards and other small animals returned to Earth on Sunday after spending a month in space for what scientists said was the longest experiment of its kind. 
 
 Fewer than half of the 53 mice and other rodents who blasted off on April 19 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome survived the flight, Russian news agencies reported, quoting Vladimir Sychov, deputy director of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems and the lead researcher. 
 
 Sychov said this was to be expected and the surviving mice were sufficient to complete the study, which was designed to show the effects of weightlessness and other factors of space flight on cell structure. All 15 of the lizards survived, he said. The capsule also carried small crayfish and fish. 
 
 The capsule's orbit reached 575 kilometers (345 miles) above Earth, according to the news agencies, which said this was far higher than the orbit of the International Space Station. 
 
 Russian state television showed the round Bion-M capsule and some of the surviving mice after it landed slightly off course but safely in a planted field near Orenburg, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) southeast of Moscow. 
 
 "This is the first time that animals have flown in space for so long on their own," Sychov said in the television broadcast from the landing site. The last research craft to carry animals into space spent 12 days in orbit in 2007. 
 
 The mice and other animals were to be flown back to Moscow to undergo a series of tests at Sychov's institute, which is part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
– The first Russian critter on Mars likely won't be a mouse, if the results of a month-long "space ark" mission are anything to go by. A capsule containing 45 mice, along with eight gerbils, 15 newts, crayfish, snails, and other small animals, landed yesterday with more than half the mice and all of the gerbils dead after a month spent 357 miles above the Earth, the AP reports. The fate of the newts is a bit unclear, with the AP reporting that all 15 "lizards" survived, and Space Reporter noting most newts died. The deaths weren't all due to the ravages of space; some were the result of equipment failure, scientists tell PhysOrg. "This is the first time that animals have been put in space on their own for so long," a researcher says, adding that despite the casualties, enough of the rodents survived for the study into the effects of weightlessness on cell structure to be completed. The animal test is expected to provide scientists with vital information on how humans might fare on a voyage to Mars.