The Foton-M4 satellite returned to mother Russia this week bearing bad news. The sex geckos did not survive reentry—into the atmosphere.

The geckos, one stud and four ladies, were rocketed into space on July 19 this summer aboard a six-ton vessel so that scientists could study zero-gravity reproduction among other things. Along for the ride were fruit flies, mushrooms, plant seeds, and microorganisms.

Geckos were chosen as astronauts because their feet allow for an easy grip on any surface, regardless of gravity. Lamella, the microscopic strips pictured below, allow geckos to bang like space ninjas.

The cause of the Russian gecko deaths is unclear at the moment. Unfortunately, the fruit flies survived the space trip and spawned many space babies in the process.

Communication with the Foton-M4 was partially lost just hours after launching, and one week passed before the station could reestablish control. The two-month voyage was cut short to 44 days.

Experts at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Biomedical Problems told the Itar-Tass news agency that the communications incident did not affect the geckos or the automatic program experiments.

"We can say with confidence that they died at least a week before the landing because their bodies were partly mummified," the experts said. "It's too early to talk about the preliminary causes of death."

Perhaps, after raking through 44 days of footage and recovering from emotional turmoil, the experts will be ready to talk about it.