Bion (satellite)

Bion, also named Biocosmos, is a series of Soviet and Russian biosatellites focused on space medicine. The Soviet biosatellite effort began in 1966 with Kosmos 110, and the Bion spacecraft, based on the Zenit reconnaissance satellite, began to fly in 1973 with a first emphasis on the effects of radiation on living things. They carried primates, rodents, insects, cells and plants into near Earth orbit, with missions lasting from five days to about 22 days. NASA joined the programme in 1975 and took part in nine of the eleven Bion missions, until Bion No.11 in December 1996, and more than 100 American experiments flew on them. The programme was revived with the modified Bion-M type: Bion-M1, launched on 19 April 2013 from Baikonur, carried 45 mice, 18 Mongolian gerbils, 15 geckos, snails, fish and micro-organisms for 30 days, and Bion-M2 was launched on a Soyuz 2.1b rocket on 20 August 2025 with 75 mice and 1,500 fruit flies. Progress Rocket Space Centre names Bion among the spacecraft it developed.