Bion-M 2

Thirty-day biology mission in a 97° polar orbit designed to repeatedly cross the inner Van Allen belt, carrying 75 mice, fruit flies, plant seeds, and cell cultures through radiation intensities roughly 20 times higher than on the ISS. Results are intended to inform crew health planning for Russia's planned ROSS polar space station, which will orbit at a similar inclination.

First Bion-M mission since Bion-M 1 in April 2013. Like its predecessors, the capsule descends from the Vostok reconnaissance satellite lineage.