Fruit Flies on the Space Shuttle

In 1947, The United States was interested in sending men into space but were concerned about the possible effects of radiation. In 1947, no one knew the range of radiation in space, nor how much shielding might be needed to protect humans in space. Scientists turned to fruit flies which had long been used to study gene mutations caused by radiation. After making its way into space (briefly and barely) the capsule containing the fruit flies returned to earth by parachute and the fruit flies survived. The successful experiment demonstrated that the radiation in space was not enough to cause mutations to the fruit flies.

I chose this article because first, it is about insects, and it tells us that while people have a stereotype against insects and think that insects are disgusting, they actually help us a lot. Without insects, we can't live in a stable world. 

This is very important because if they didn't test it with the fruit flies, the humans would have fallen in big danger. This will help us a lot on the future because there will be a lot of space explorations such as going to Mars, and insects could help us just as they did before. We can benefit a lot from them and save people's lives.