Ground control to Major Tom

For those of you who had been keeping up with the brave Russian sex geckos, there's sad news tonight:

Five gecko lizards sent into orbit on a Russian space satellite as part of a sex experiment have all died, the Russian space agency says.

Did they -- well, you know, return with their shields or upon them, gecko-sex-wise?

... Experts say the geckos may have frozen to death after the heating system broke down, Russian news agencies report.

They were sent into space as part of a study into the effect of weightlessness on their sex lives and development.

... Drosophila fruit flies that were also travelling on the satellite, however, survived and had reproduced, Roscosmos said.

One can only hope they'll be questioned after a decent interval. The Ridger, are there any details in the Russian version that we're missing?

Freddie Starr Ate My Gecko

Good news for the gecko sex set, or Putin rearing his head again?

Why spoil it by reading the story?

Some headlines are so good that you almost hate to read on, but all right:

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