[Biological life support systems: investigations on board of orbital complex "Mir"]

From 1989 till 1998 twelve experiments were performed by Bulgarian, Russian, Slovak, and US researchers and engineers on the effects of space flight on the model of ecosystem "algae-fishes-bacteria", and ontogenesis of birds (Japanese quail) and higher plants. For the first time several viable chicks were hatched and passed the whole cycle of their embryonic development in the MIR microgravity. The length of the plant ontogenetic cycle as a whole and its specific stages appeared to be same as on Earth. Seeds of Brassica rapa gathered and planted in greenhouse Svet on board MIR yielded robust shoots. Photosynthesis and dark respiration of plants growing in spaceflight were successfully measured.