WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Were Fruit Flies the First Animal in Space? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.360 Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:09.160 brain Stuff. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today I've got another 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:13.520 classic episode for you. This one concerns the strange story 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.520 of why and how fruit flies became the very first 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:23.360 earthly animal to visit outer space. Hi brain Stuff, Lauren 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:28.680 vogel Bomb. Here On February, the humble fruit fly boldly 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:31.920 went where no earth creature had gone before, into space. 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.159 Of all things. The historic trip was made on a 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:39.280 rocket originally designed by Nazis Easy. Towards the end of 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.520 World War Two, American soldiers seized a number of German 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.920 V two ballistic missiles, along with enough component pieces to 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.560 fill three hundred train cars. The V twos were high tech, 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.200 long range weapons that could fly at a top speed 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:54.920 of thirty five hundred miles per hour that's about fifty 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.040 six hundred kilometers per hour and hit targets standing as 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.280 far as two hundred miles that's three and twenty kilometers away. 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:05.920 Uncle Sam's military realized that V two's had great scientific potential. 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.280 In nineteen forty six, the Armed Forces began test firing 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:11.720 them at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:14.480 Even Back then, there was an interest in the possibility 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.120 of putting a man in outer space someday, but first 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:21.280 some major technical questions needed answering. For starters, scientists wondered 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:25.959 if exposure to cosmic radiation would harm potential future astronauts, so, 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:29.040 starting in nineteen forty six, the military launched a series 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:32.639 of biological samples into space on V two rockets. Seeds 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.360 from corn rye and other plants were sent skyward, often 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.119 reaching heights of eighty miles that's a hundred thirty kilometers 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:41.039 or more above the ground. Most, but not all, of 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.360 these were recovered post launch and thoroughly examined by scientists 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:46.960 working with the U. S. Navy. According to the Office 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.720 of Naval Research, the White Sands Missile Range didn't manage 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.360 to send animals into space until ninety seven. On February 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.279 twenty that year, a V two loaded with fruit flies 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.240 traveled sixty seven miles that's a hundred nine kilometers up 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.800 into the atmosphe here. NASA currently recognizes the altitude of 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.600 sixty six miles or a hundred kilometers as the point 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:10.000 where space officially begins. Therefore, those bugs are considered the 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:14.040 first animals to ever visit the Final Frontier. But why 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:17.959 were fruit flies chosen for this cosmic journey? Genetically, their 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.480 species has way more in common with Homo sapiens than 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.640 you might think. Around sev of all of the disease 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.799 causing genes present in humans have analogs in the fruit 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:30.520 flies genetic code. Studying fruit flies can therefore teach us 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:32.680 a lot about our own genetic makeup, which is a 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:36.239 big reason the insects are so popular among biological researchers. 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:38.840 It's also the reason that the White Sands missile range 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:41.160 wanted to see what would happen to them in outer space. 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.440 On the V two's descent back to Earth, a capsule 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.480 containing the fruit flies broke away, and a parachute slowly 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.760 lowered it down onto New Mexican soil. The scientists were 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.520 relieved to see that the fruit flies were still alive, and, 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.640 perhaps more importantly, that the cosmic radiation had had no 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:59.639 genetic effect on them. In other words, the insects had 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:03.720 not been mutated in space. That encouraged biologists to launch 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.799 other animals on V two excursions. By the time NASA 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.920 was founded in America had sent numerous hamsters, mice, and 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.160 monkeys into space, though sadly many of them did not 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:18.560 make it back alive. However, this research and their sacrifice 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.720 has paved the way to the amazing exploration being done today. 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.840 Today's episode is based on the article why fruit flies 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.200 were the first animals in space on how stuff works 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.480 dot com, written by Mark Vancini. Brain Stuff is production 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:38.560 off I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.240 dot com, and it is produced by Tyler Klang. Four 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:43.600 more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.280 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:47.040 favorite shows.