BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Of the four mice involved in a recent mission aboard China's space station, one female has now successfully birthed healthy offspring on Earth, the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization (CSU) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has announced.
The four mice were sent into space aboard the Shenzhou-21 crewed spaceship on Oct. 31, and were housed in a specialized habitat on the space station before returning to Earth on Nov. 14.
After their return, one female conceived and later delivered nine pups on Dec. 10. Six of the newborns have survived -- a rate considered normal. Researchers have noted that the mother is nursing normally and the pups appear active and healthy.
"This mission showed that short-term space travel did not impair the reproductive capability of the mouse," said Wang Hongmei, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the CAS. "It also provides invaluable samples for the investigation of how the space environment influences early developmental stages in mammals." ■
