Two Mummichog Minnows Became First Fish in Space in 1973 Via Skylab 3

Summary: Two Mummichog minnows became the first fish in space in 1973 via the Skylab 3 mission in an experiment requested by scientist-pilot Owen Garriott.

John Boyd holds bag of two Mummichog minnows who will become the first two fish in space via the Skylab 3 mission, July to September 1973; an aquarium (background) shelters other Mummichog minnows caught off the coast of Beaufort, North Carolina; Johnson Space Center, Houston, Harris County, Southeast Texas; June 29, 1973; NASA ID S73-30856: Public Domain, via NASA Images

Two Mummichog minnows became the first fish in space in 1973 via the Skylab 3 mission, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) second manned mission to Skylab, the first United States space station.

The Skylab 3 mission began Saturday, July 28, 1973, with liftoff at 11:10:50 Coordinated Universal Time (7:10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time) from east central Florida’s Cape Kennedy (Cape Canaveral since Oct. 9, 1973). The Apollo command and service module (CSM) carrying the mission’s crew, multi-species passengers and mission-related paraphernalia docked at the space station at 19:37:00 UTC (3:37 p.m. EDT).

Fourth moonwalker Alan Bean (March 15, 1932-May 26, 2018) commanded the Skylab 3 mission. The mission’s two other astronauts, scientist-pilot Owen Garriott (Nov. 22, 1930-April 15, 2019) and pilot Jack Lousman (born Feb. 29, 1936), logged their first spaceflights via the Skylab 3 mission.

Apollo CSM 117 transported multi-species passengers for participation in scientific experiments assigned to the Skylab 3 mission. Six pocket mice (Perognathus longimembris) and 180 fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) pupae associated with circadian rhythm experiments. Two common cross spiders (Araneus diadematus), named Anita and Arabella, represented Web Formation, experiment ED52, which was proposed by Lexington, Massachusetts, high schooler Judith S. Miles. The web experiment considered the effect of microgravity on the common cross spider’s mechanism for sensing weight during web construction.

Owen Garriott suggested incorporating the two Mummichog minnow (Fundular heteroclitus) fingerlings and 50 fertile minnow eggs into the web formation’s study of disorientation and orientation in weightlessness. The coastal waters off Beaufort, in southeastern North Carolina’s Inner Banks region, supplied the experiment’s minnows.

The expanded experiment’s fish component focused on the otolith (Ancient Greek: ὠτο- ōto-, stem of οὖς, oûs, “ear” + λίθος, líthos, “stone”) organ. Located in the inner ear of vertebrates, the otolith is a calcium carbonate structure that conduces to the maintenance of balance.

A clear plastic bag served as the Skylab 3 mission’s fish aquarium. The plastic aquarium’s dark background and lighted surface simulated the minnows’ natural environment of pond bottom and sky, respectively.

When Owen Garriott opened the plastic aquarium after three days in orbit, he observed an “odd, circular pattern” in the fingerlings’ swimming. The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s report, Skylab, Classroom in Space (1977), edited by Lee Summerlin, noted: “The fish looped sideways, keeping their backs to the light. Loops of small radius alternated frequently with loops of larger radius. The fish swam in left loops about as much as they swam in right loops” (page 172).

Garriott observed a slow decrease in the looped swimming until, within 21 days, the fingerlings exhibited a normal swim pattern. Their adaptation to weightlessness prevailed, except when Garriott shook their plastic aquarium. The shaking induced looping swimming by the fingerlings.

The fertile minnow eggs began hatching after 19 days. The majority of the eggs hatched during the mission’s fifth and sixth weeks.

The hatchlings displayed immediate visual orientation. They apparently had adapted to weightlessness while in their eggs. Keeping their backs to the light, the hatchlings swam normally. Light, as a substitute for gravity, served as their visual orientation. The newly hatched minnows resorted to “abnormal swimming in tight circles only when the bag aquarium was shaken” (page 173).

Lee Summerlin’s Skylab, Classroom in Space publication suggested “phototropic (orientation toward light) orientation and the relatively flat aquarium” as probable explanations for looping. The report surmised: “The fish were probably responding to signals from extremely fine hairs in their otolith which straighten out in the absence of gravity. They reacted by swimming in a forward loop which was distorted into a sideways loop by the tendency to keep their backs to the light. Additional experimentation will be needed to explain fully the strange looping and the apparent phototropic response of the fish” (page 173).

The Skylab 3 mission ended Tuesday, Sept. 25, 1973. The Apollo CSM 117 undocked from Skylab at 11:16:42 UTC (7:16 a.m. EDT). The module splashed down in the North Pacific Ocean at 22:19:51 UTC (6:19 p.m. EDT). The USS New Orleans effected recovery 42 minutes after splashdown.

The takeaways for two Mummichog minnows who became the first fish in space in 1973 via the Skylab 3 mission are that their participation in the mission was suggested by scientist pilot Owen Garriott, that both fish successfully adapted to weightlessness and that minnows that hatched during the mission displayed immediate adjustment to weightlessness.

fertile eggs of Mummichog minnows, prior to hatching in space, in the Skylab 3 mission’s aquarial bag; Lee Summerlin, ed., Skylab, Classroom in Space (1977), page 172: Public Domain, via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reports Server)

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

John Boyd holds bag of two Mummichog minnows who will become the first two fish in space via the Skylab 3 mission, July to September 1973; an aquarium (background) shelters other Mummichog minnows caught off the coast of Beaufort, North Carolina; Johnson Space Center, Houston, Harris County, Southeast Texas; June 29, 1973; NASA ID S73-30856: Public Domain, via NASA Images @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-S73-30856.html; Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details/S73-30856

fertile eggs of Mummichog minnows, prior to hatching in space, in the Skylab 3 mission’s aquarial bag; Lee Summerlin, ed., Skylab, Classroom in Space (1977), page 172: Public Domain, via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reports Server) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19770022245.pdf

For further information:

Burgess, Colin; and Chris Dubbs. Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle. Springer-Praxis Books in Space Exploration. Chichester UK: Praxis Publishing Ltd., 2007.

Caswell, Kurt. Laika’s Window: The Legacy of a Soviet Space Dog. San Antonio TX: Trinity University Press, 2018.

Hitt, David; Owen Garriott; and Joe Kerwin. Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story. Featuring the In-Flight Diary of Alan Bean. Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books/about/Homesteading_Space.html?id=sR5Cm_zeIekC

Johnson, David Samuel. “The First Fish in Orbit.” Scientific American > Guest Blog. Dec. 22, 2016.
Available @ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-first-fish-in-orbit/

Marriner, Derdriu. “Arabella and Anita Spun First Space Webs in August 1973 at Skylab.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 31, 2013.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/07/arabella-and-anita-spun-first-space.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Fourth Moonwalker Alan Bean Commanded Skylab 3 July to September 1973.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 22, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/07/fourth-moonwalker-alan-bean-commanded.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Skylab 3 Astronaut Wives Pranked Spouses With Unofficial Mission Patch." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 15, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/07/skylab-3-astronaut-wives-pranked.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Skylab 3 Mission Patch Emphasized Earth, Sun and Medical Themes." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, July 8, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/07/skylab-3-mission-patch-emphasized-earth.html

NASA Johnson Space Center. “Personnel -- Minnows -- Skylab (SL)-3 -- JSC.” NASA Image and Video Library. June 29, 1973.
Available @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-S73-30856.html

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. “Web Formation (ED52).” NASA Life Sciences Data Archive > Mission > Skylab.
Available via NASA Life Sciences Data Archive @ https://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/Experiment/exper/428

Steven-Boniecki, Dwight, ed. Skylab 3: The NASA Mission Reports. Apogee Space Books (Book 92). Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2016.

Summerlin Lee B., ed. “Fish Otolith Organ.” Skylab, Classroom in Space: 172-173. Prepared by George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA SP-401. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1977.
Available via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reports Server) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19770022245.pdf