would a bird fly in space

Because there is no air in space, birds cannot fly, although some have been brought to live on space stations in the past. 32 chicken embryos were carried into space by American astronauts during the Discovery STS-29 mission. Japanese quails had been used in space experiments by Russian astronauts even prior to that trip (mostly with their eggs) Adult birds cannot fly outside of a space station because they have never been sent into space.

Think about what a bird does on Earth. It flaps its wings a lot to take off, it flaps its wings while its flying to stay in the air, and then it flaps its wings a lot when it lands to decelerate. Some birds, like hawks, are extremely good at gliding. They can stay in the air for long periods of time without any flapping once theyre airborne.

The coolest part about a spaceship or space station orbiting Earth is the weightlessness. Its cool to humans because in weightlessness anyone can fly. You simply kick off of a wall and you can fly in a straight line to the other side of the ship without any effort. If youve seen video of astronauts clowning around on the space shuttle or in the space station, then you know that it looks like a lot of fun!

In space, a bird would need to do the same sorts of things at both ends of the flight. It would need to flap a lot at the beginning to build up some speed, and it would need to flap a lot at the end to slow down (or it could do what humans do at the end of their weightless flights and run into a wall). In the middle of the flight, the bird would simply glide. It doesnt have to expend any energy during the flight because gravity isnt pulling it down.

The lingering, unknown question is this: Is a bird smart enough to adjust to things in a zero-gravity environment? Or is flying in gravity so instinctive that a bird cant adjust? Birds are remarkably smart, so chances are that a domesticated bird would figure it out with a little practice.

A bird’s wings would give it a significant advantage over humans in this scenario. The bird’s wings and tail would continue to function normally inside an air-filled space station. So the bird can turn, accelerate and decelerate mid-flight. Humans are incapable of doing this because, once they take off from the wall, their flight is essentially straight ahead until they strike the wall on the other side. If birds used their wings and tails appropriately, they would have a great deal of control when flying in the space station, but they would also need to make some significant adjustments to account for their weightlessness.

FAQ

Has a bird ever been in space?

The cosmonauts kept trying, however. Finally, in 1990, the first healthy quail chick hatched on Mir, becoming not only the first bird in space, but the first vertebrate (that we know of) to be born outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. Five more chicks followed. Still, there were some kinks to work out.

Do birds fly in zero gravity?

No. Aerodynamics is what holds birds (and airplanes and helicopters and balloons) up in the air. Besides, a bird would die without air, and dead birds don’t fly. But even if the bird had an oxygen tank strapped on its back, it still couldn’t fly in an airless environment.

Why can’t NASA take a bird into space?

space because birds need gravity to swallow food. few days before NASA has put on an experiment with. a bird.