Bion-M No.1

Bion-M No. 1

Bion-M No.1 satellite
Names	Бион-М
Mission type	Biological research
Operator	Institute of Biomedical Problems Russian Academy of Sciences
COSPAR ID	2013-015A
SATCAT no.	39130
Mission duration	30 days (achieved)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Bion-M No.1
Spacecraft type	Bion-M
Bus	Zenit (bus) Yantar (propulsion) [1]
Manufacturer	TsSKB Progress
Launch mass	6,266 kg (13,814 lb)
Landing mass	2,415 kg (5,324 lb)
Power	450 watts
Start of mission
Launch date	19 April 2013, 10:00:00 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz 2-1a
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 31/6
Contractor	Progress Rocket Space Centre
End of mission
Recovered by	Russian Space Forces
Landing date	19 May 2013, 03:12 UTC
Landing site	51°53′N 54°20′E / 51.883°N 54.333°E / 51.883; 54.333 (Bion-M No.1 spashdown) Orenburg, Russia
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	471 km (293 mi)
Apogee altitude	579 km (360 mi)
Inclination	64.87°
Period	90.0 minutes
Revolution no.	444
Bion/Bion-M programme ← Bion 11 Bion-M No.2 →

Bion-M No.1 (Бион-М) was a Russian space mission, part of the Bion-M programme focused on space medicine. The new generation Bion-M continued the Soviet/Russian Bion satellite programme aimed at biological research in space. The last spacecraft of the Bion series, Bion 11, was launched in 1996. The Bion-M1 spacecraft was designed to carry biological, physiological and biotechnological experiments to low Earth orbit and return them to Earth at the end of the mission. The biological payload for Bion-M1 included rodents, amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans, mollusks, fish, insects, bacteria, plant and animal cell cultures. The spacecraft was the result of collaboration hosting biomedical payloads provided by scientific institutions from the United States, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Poland and other countries. The Bion-M automated spacecraft was a unique specialized space complex that aimed to determine the fundamental mechanisms of how life adapts to microgravity and then readapts to Earth-normal gravity.^[2]