The aim of this book is to acquaint the reader with the results of the Soviet biological studies that were obtained mostly from piloted spacecraft, especially orbital stations which were most suitable as environments for work with plants and other biological subjects. The authors are keen on this aim because they have been actively involved in in-flight experiments over the years and have study experience and results which have not yet been published. Space experiments are expensive, unique, and nonreproducible; the exclusive value of the results they yield was the motivation for writing this book which consists of three sections and conclusion. The first section is an overview of biological studies that have been made in space. It contains a historical perspective on space studies at Soviet orbital stations Salyut and Mir, with unique exchanges between the Center for Piloted Flight Control and the cosmonauts who were performing a biological study program; it also presents protocols of virtually all the biological studies at the orbital stations. The important roles the cosmonauts play are shown in the "launching" of the orbital experiments and the entire study manipulations. The description of spaceflight conditions incorporates the authors' own experimental studies which are illustrative of some of the approaches that can be taken to evaluate the effects of spaceflight on biological subjects. The major issue is weightlessness, a factor which cannot be simulated on Earth for any appreciable length of time, but which affects the evolution of all living things. This section describes methodologies of biological studies and relevant choices of subjects, including unicellular organisms and higher plants. The second section deals with the results of space research on the biology of unicellular organisms and higher plants. Study findings on morphological factors and developmental stages for higher plants are presented. These studies have documented the ability of organisms to grow and develop during spaceflight when subjected both to zero-gravity and to other in-flight exposures. They also discovered certain structural and functional readjustments that organisms undergo. Leaving Earth for long-term spaceflights by humans was thus made possible.
