Bees in Space
22 March 1982
In 1982, 14 honey bees were loaned to NASA by Mel Coplin (father) and Steve (son) of Coplin Bee Farms. These bees became the first bees to travel to space aboard the space shuttle Columbia as part of the Insect Fight Observations at Zero Gravity experiment.
The bees were joined by moths and houseflies during the experiment. The insects were sent to space to observe how they would adapt in the weightless environment. NASA reported that the bees adapted better than the moths or flies, but unfortunately died while in flight due to starvation. The material used to feed the bees was in liquid form and fed into the cage through a wick.
6 April 1984
Two years later in 1984 about 3,400 honey bees made the journey to space aboard space shuttle Challenger where they spent 6 days in space. This colony of bees was also provided by Coplin Bee Farms. While in space the bees flight, honey production, and several other aspects were observed.
Learning from the 1982 experiment, food for the bees was supplied in a gelantinous form. The food had to be supplied this way since liquid would have flown around the container in zero gravity. During the experiment astronauts observed that the bees did not store a lot of honey in the comb they built while in space. Something extremely unique that was observed is that rather than fly or walk from the feeder to the comb, the bees built a living chain of individuals to move the food from one mouth to the other in order to get it from the feeder to the comb. This kept them from being bothered by zero gravity!
While in flight, the colony built about 30 square inches of honey comb. They initially began building the comb vertically but quickly adjusted and continued building the comb just as if they were on earth.
Beekeepers often mark queen bees with a colored dot to quickly identify her among the colony. The queen that journeyed to space was marked with a pink dot. Pink was selected in honor of astronaut George "Pinkie" Nelson who was the designated beekeeper in flight. While in flight the queen laid about 35 eggs, but workers failed to produce the royal jelly needed for bee development. Interestingly enough, once back on earth royal jelly production went back to normal.
