(260203) -- CHONGQING, Feb. 3, 2026 (Xinhua) -- Researchers pose for a photo with the small experimental space ecosystem payload at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Dec. 2, 2025. Researchers at China's Chongqing University announced on Monday that a butterfly has successfully emerged from its pupa while orbiting Earth, yielding valuable data on biological survival in the harsh microgravity environment of space.
The butterfly chrysalis was sealed inside a small experimental space ecosystem payload developed by the university's research team and carried into space aboard the Kuaizhou-11 Y8 carrier rocket on Dec. 13, 2025.
TO GO WITH "China Focus: Chinese space experiment sees butterfly emerge in orbit" (Chongqing University/Handout via Xinhua)
