The possibility extraterrestrial life has been discovered came after living bacteria was found on the surface of the space station. Anton Shkaplerov, a flight engineer who is currently planning his third trip to outer-space said that scientists found the living bacteria while collecting samples on the surface of the station. He said: “Bacteria that had not been there during the launch of the ISS module were found on the swabs.”

GETTY/NASA Bacteria has been found outside the International Space Station

The astronaut explained that this meant that the bacteria must have landed on International Space Station once it was already in space. He said: “So they have flown from somewhere in space and settled on the outside of the hull.” Mr Shkaplerov added the samples are currently being studied to find out more about them but that they seem to be safe.

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The samples of the bacteria were collected during spacewalks from the International Space Station. The unexpected discovery was made after the cosmonauts used cotton swabs on the external surface of the man-made structure. They particularly took probes from places where fuel wastes were discharged while the engines were in operation and in places where the station’s surface was more obscure.

However, there is also a chance that the bacteria managed to survive the tricky journey from Earth. There have been examples of bacteria overcoming the sharp swings in temperature during the journey. Sharp swings of temperature take place during a spaceship’s journey from Earth to outer space.

GETTY Astronauts taking off to work on the International Space Station

GETTY The bacteria is being examined back on Earth