From Soil to Stars: The off-planet evolution of Niallia tiangongensis

Learn how a microbe became a surprise space traveler and mutated in zero gravity!Rockets, satellites, and perhaps a billionaire or two come to mind when we think about space travel. While Musk was headed for Mars, a common microbe traveled into Earth’s lower orbit without a ticket and returned with a story that might leave any astronaut jealous. Meet Niallia tiangongensis—a tiny germ that went into the stars aboard China’s Tiangong space station. It survived cosmic radiation and came back tougher, smarter, and ready to make headlines. A bacterium that is literally out of this world! This tiny survivor is revolutionizing our understanding of bacteria in space.