Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hi brain Stuff. Lauren Vogel bomb here on February seven, the humble fruit fly boldly went where no Earth creature had gone before, into space, of all things. The historic trip was made on a rocket originally designed by Nazis Easy. Towards the end of World War Two, American soldiers seized a number of German V two ballistic missiles, along with enough component
pieces to fill three hundred train cars. The V twos were high tech, long range weapons that could fly at a top speed of thirty five hundred miles per hour that's about fifty six hundred kilometers per hour and hit targets standing as far as two hundred miles that's three kilometers away. Uncle Sam's military realized that V two's had great scientific potential. In ninety six, the Armed Forces began test firing them at the White Sands Missile Range in
New Mexico. Even back then, there was an interest in the possibility of putting a man in outer space some day, but first some major technical questions needed answering. For starters, scientists wondered if exposure to cosmic radiation would harm potential future astronauts, So, starting in nineteen forty six, the military launched a series of biological samples into space on V two rockets. Seeds from corn rye and other plants were sent skyward, often reaching heights of eighty miles that's a
hundred thirty kilometers or more above the ground. Most, but not all, of these were recovered post launch and thoroughly examined by scientists working with the U. S. Navy. According to the Office of Naval Research, the White Sands Missile Range didn't manage to send animals into space until ninety seven. On February twenty that year, a V two loaded with fruit flies traveled sixty seven miles that's a hundred nine
kilometers up into the atmosphere. NASA currently recognizes the altitude of sixty six miles or a hundred kilometers as the point where space officially begins. Therefore, those bugs are considered the first animals to ever visit the final frontier. But why were fruit flies chosen for this cosmic journey? Genetically, their species has way more in common with Homo sapiens than you might think. Around of all of the disease causing genes present in humans, have analogs in the fruit
flies genetic code. Studying fruit flies can therefore teach us a lot about our own genetic makeup, which is a big reason the insects are so popular among biological researchers. It's also the reason that the White Sands missile range wanted to see what would happen to them in outer space. On the V two's descent back to Earth, a capsule containing the fruit flies broke away, and a parachute slowly
lowered it down onto New Mexican soil. The scientists were relieved to see that the fruit flies were still alive, and, perhaps more importantly, that the cosmic radiation had had no genetic effect on them. In other words, the insects had not been mutated in space. That encouraged biologists to launch other animals on V two excursions. By the time NASA was founded in ninety eight, America had sent numerous hamsters, mice, and monkeys into space, though sadly many of them did
not make it back alive. However, this research and their sacrifice has paved the way to the amazing exploration being done today. Today's episode was written by Mark Mancini and produced by Tyler clang Her. More on this and lots of other genetically similar topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com.