More on the C. elegans that Survived Re-Entry During the Columbia Disaster

Living roundworms made it intact to the ground after the Columbia crash, as noted multiple times before (here and here.) There is more information in the article about their level of protection: "'They sustained some heat damage to exteriors, but that's about it,' Szewczyk said. The thermos-size metal container holding the nematodes was housed inside the locker of a crew compartment that was reinforced specifically to protect the materials inside. Once that compartment ruptured, however, the nematodes still survived the crash to Earth thanks to the locker's build, Szewczyk said. The C. elegans stayed alive upon impact because by the time that part of the shuttle fell to the ground, it had already decreased in speed, allowing the nematodes to touch down more gently." A locker is much less protection than being deep inside a solid chunk of rock.

This has obvious implications: "'From an astrobiology standpoint, the important thing was that if you had a multicellular organism going through the atmosphere you can have interplanetary transfer of life by natural means, and Columbia demonstrated that,' Szewczyk said. 'It was a fortunate thing to demonstrate that in the unfortunate circumstances that there were.'" Their descendants are kept at the University of Minnesota.