Kosmos 782

Kosmos 782 or Bion 3 was a Bion satellite. It carried 14 experiments prepared by seven countries in all, with participation from scientists in France, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, United States and the Soviet Union.

Launch and return

Launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome on 25 November 1975, at 14:00:00 UTC. The biosatellite was recovered near Amankaragaj, in Kazakhstan, Soviet Union, on 15 December 1975 after 19.5 days.

Mission

It included a centrifuge with revolving and fixed sections in which identical groups of animals, plants, and cells could be compared. The subject animals included white rats and tortoises. The effects of aging on fruit fly livers and plant tissues with grafted cancerous growths were also studied. More than 20 different species were flown on the mission, including 25 unrestrained male Wistar rats, fruit flies, carrot tissues, and 1,000 embryos of the fish Fundulus heteroclitus. A United States radiation dosimeter experiment was also carried out without using biological materials. This experiment was the only joint U.S./U.S.S.R. study flown on the Kosmos series of biosatellites that was developed by Johnson Space Center ; all others were developed and managed by Ames Research Center.