Painted lady butterflies emerge in space

This video from the USA is called Painted Lady, Flight, Food feeder, 11-18-09, BioServe’s “Butterflies in Space” Experiment (from when the butterflies were still caterpillars).

By Ian O’Neill, Discovery News:

For the first time in history, two butterflies have survived the chrysalis stage of development and spread their wings as fully grown Painted Lady butterflies in microgravity.

Although many species of insects have boldly gone where no insect has gone before, this is the first occasion that a butterfly has survived the larvae phase, gone on to form a chrysalis and then emerge as a mature butterfly.

This International Space Station (ISS) outreach experiment is organized by BioServe Space Technologies and the University of Colorado for students on the ground to follow the progress of the orbiting creatures. The school kids can then compare the development of butterflies in the classroom with their orbiting cousins.