Leapin’ lizards — they’re lost in space!
A Russian satellite full of geckos having sex in space has stopped responding to ground control, the Washington Post reports.
The unmanned spacecraft — which launched on July 19 for a zero-gravity mating experiment — is now floating willy-nilly instead of following the planned flight path.
“Specialists of the main mission control group are currently working to establish sustainable contact with the satellite and implement the planned program for the flight,” Progress, the company that build the spacecraft, posted on its website.
The spacecraft is still sending data back to Earth, to Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems. Plants and insects are also on board the satellite.
The lizards are now free to do as they please during the 60-day mission.