On my way! See you there ;)

3. NASA has a dedicated Fly Lab platform on ISS precisely for the fruit fly research in orbit.

2. It is estimated that about 30 space missions have included Drosophila since then, aimed at studying aging, muscle degeneration, brain function, and more in microgravity.

Instead, a bunch of Drosophila flies crossed the Kármán line (100 km, the accepted boundary of space) aboard a German V-2 rocket captured by the USA — arguably the first peaceful use of this type of technology.

1. Contrary to popular belief, neither a rhesus monkey nor the dog Laika (as is often taught in Eastern European schools) was the first animal in orbit.

Although the results will be published following on-ground analyses, we can already share some fruit fly–related trivia:

The Hungarian astronaut, Tibor Kapu, delivered fruit flies from the University of Szeged to investigate genotypes potentially resistant to DNA damage caused by cosmic background radiation.

#Drosophila #Space #ISS

The latest Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station was successfully completed this week. As some of you may know, this mission had a Drosophilist interest as well.

Very happy to be in the vibrant JEDI community and present my IMBB work, great science and fantastic people! @fly-eds.bsky.social @fly-jedi.bsky.social @scentinel.bsky.social and special thanks to the organizers!

Good food, nice venue, exceptional company and fantastic science. Food for body, soul and mind. My impression is that's the chemistry of a good flyJEDI meeting @fly-jedi.bsky.social

Oh, several points
- to integrate myself into the European Drosophila "ecosystem"
- fruitfull contacts which will host (and make use of) my students for an Erasmus, and send student to me in exchange
As for community building, for flyJEDi rituals would be good (and I hope there will be :)