Rooting for Roaches in Space: Madagascar Hissing Roaches Thrive in Vacuum

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ZapperZ
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I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually rooting for these roaches.

http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060807/full/060807-7.html

Still, I had to laugh when I got to this part:

At 100 millibars — one-tenth of normal atmospheric pressure - the bugs actively pumped air into their abdomens to survive, he found, swelling themselves up in the process to about one and a half times the normal size. "It's pretty gross actually," says Cockell.

Bigelow Aerospace tested a number of different cockroaches and found that the Madagascar hissing roach, which can grow to more than 7.5 centimetres long and can weigh as much as 24 grams, proved that they had the right stuff by enduring more than 2 hours in a vacuum. "After 20 to 30 minutes they came back to life and we thought 'Oh my gosh, they deserve to go to space'," says Bigelow.

:)

Now, if only we can see how these roaches deal with the meerkats...

Zz.
 
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They were then in a vacuum for a few minutes before the Genesis I craft was deployed and inflated.
That would be enough to kill many creatures, but not necessarily the hardy cockroach, which can survive many weeks without food.
Lol, how does this prove anything?
 
You mean we can't even avoid roaches by moving to space? They would survive as stowaways?
 
If we want to conquer space I suggest some sort of human roach splicing project should be set up. How well do they fair on re-entry?