Chinese taikonauts have discovered a previously unknown bacterium. This was reported by Chinese state television CCTV. The space travelers brought the microscopic, rod-shaped bacterium to Earth in May 2023 as a swab sample in frozen form. It was named Niallia tiangongensi in reference to where it was found on the Chinese space station Tiangong. It inhabited the station’s cockpit controls, where it lived under microgravity conditions.