From The Archives: Opossum Fetuses May Yield Zero-G Data On Weightlessness

Biomodule spacecraft designed to orbit 24 opossum fetuses in a controllable low-gravity environment had been proposed to the Air Force as a quick means of gaining a relatively large volume of experimental data on weightlessness. 

We reported in our January 18, 1965 issue about why opossums would be appropriate for this experiment. The animals were selected for the project because they are marsupial, "belonging to an order of animals that matures while attached to mammary glands in their mother's external pouch. Opossums are normally born in a virtually embryonic state and then develop to maturity within this external pouch. Opossum embryonic fetuses are considered uniquely adapted to continuous observation during early growth and maturation. 

"Control experiments in a terrestrial laboratory would parallel those done in space."

Read more about this fascinating experiment, complete with diagrams of a cross-section of the biomodule experimental package and the biomodule spacecraft. 

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