Going where no gecko has gone before, Russia launched a research satellite filled with geckos who will, hopefully, mate in a zero gravity environment. The satellite briefly stopped responding to mission control's commands, but contact was restored three days later.

From the Washington Post:

At this very moment, a Russian satellite full of geckos -- (possibly) having sex -- is floating around in space -- and mission control has lost the ability to control it.

The Foton-M4 research satellite launched on July 19 with five geckos on board. The plan: To observe their mating activities in the zero-gravity conditions of Earth orbit. Several other earthly creatures, including plants and insects, were also placed on board for experiments.

But shortly after the satellite made its first few orbits, it stopped responding to commands from mission control. The equipment on board, however, is still sending scientific data back to earth, a spokesman for Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems said.

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Photo: kingsnake user snake_lab