Scientists Thrilled by Birth of Fish, Salamanders Aboard Space Shuttle

Baby fish and salamanders popped out of eggs at record speed aboard the space shuttle Columbia on Sunday, thrilling scientists who want to know how human babies might develop in space.

“That’s in the future,” said Japanese project scientist Shunji Nagaoka.

Astronaut Richard Hieb reported that six or seven fish hatched, the result of orbital trysts. Researchers said it is the first known case of vertebrates--in this case guppylike Japanese Medaka fish--mating and reproducing in space.

There was bad news, however, on the mechanical front: Hieb flushed bubbles from a jammed cell-separating machine and got it running for the first time in the flight--but only for an hour.

Researchers need the Japanese-made unit for experiments involving worm DNA, rat growth hormones and mouse cellular secretions. The unit uses an electric field to separate cell components.

As of Sunday, nine days into the laboratory research mission, about 18 newts and innumerable baby fish had been born on Columbia. All of them appeared normal, Nagaoka said.

Biologists are studying the mating, development and behavior of aquatic animals in weightlessness to see if astronauts could raise fish for food and have healthy babies in space--necessities if humans are to ever live permanently in space.