--- description: Russia's attempt to find out how organisms reproduce in space did not end with a bang title: Russia's Zero-G Sex Geckos Died Before Returning to Earth image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36ae12dcfd1b79ba/6986a19ccd804d4316ccc932/200009268-001.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Russia's Zero-G Sex Geckos Died Before Returning to Earth by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 1, 2014 9:02 PM CUT  Day gecko (Phelsuma sp.) against white background, overhead view Day gecko (Phelsuma sp.) against white background, overhead viewGetty Images by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 1, 2014 9:02 PM CUT Russia’s troubled experiment to study how geckos, fruit flies and other organisms reproduce in weightlessness ended with a huge downer: When the Foton M-4 satellite containing the creatures returned to Earth on Monday and the hatch was opened, researchers found that all five geckos had died. “We can’t say yet at which stage of Foton’s space flight it happened,” the [RIA Novosti news agency](http://ria.ru/science/20140901/1022324821.html "undefined") quoted a source at the Russian Academy of Sciences as saying. Interfax quoted an unnamed source as saying the geckos [were mummified and may have frozen to death](http://www.interfax.ru/russia/394394 "undefined"). [Read more from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/sad-news-zero-g-sex-study-geckos-are-dead-n193316?cid=par-time-article%5F20140901 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3249009/russia-gecko-zero-gravity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3249009/russia-gecko-zero-gravity/"},"headline":"Russia's Zero-G Sex Geckos Died Before Returning to Earth","datePublished":"2014-09-01T21:02:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:54.687Z","description":"Russia's attempt to find out how organisms reproduce in space did not end with a bang","url":"https://time.com/3249009/russia-gecko-zero-gravity/","keywords":["Newsfeed","russia","animals","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36ae12dcfd1b79ba/6986a19ccd804d4316ccc932/200009268-001.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt36ae12dcfd1b79ba/6986a19ccd804d4316ccc932/200009268-001.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Gecko","caption":"Gecko","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3249009/russia-gecko-zero-gravity/","name":"Russia's Zero-G Sex Geckos Died Before Returning to Earth"}}]}] ```