BOULDER, Colo. -- The astronauts aboard the International Space Station will get some unusual visitors next week... butterflies.

Painted lady and monarch butterfly larvae will be launched into orbit aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on Monday, and as is the case with many space missions, this one has a Colorado connection.

It's a joint project between BioServe Space Technologies in CU-Boulder's aerospace engineering department and the Butterfly Pavilion. Scientists want to see how well butterflies can go through metamorphosis in a zero-gravity environment.

While the larvae are being studied in space, local elementary and middle school students will also get to participate. Butterfly Pavilion assembled kits Thursday for 20 classrooms in the Denver area. The kits contain the same larvae and food as the kits bound for the International Space Station.

The classrooms will serve as the control for the experiment by watching the larvae go through their life-cycle. The classrooms will then compare their results with those aboard the space station.

CU and the Butterfly Pavilion tried the experiment last year, but couldn't get the caterpillars to transform into butterflies in space. They say the problem wasn't a lack of gravity, but rather a lack of food.

"We made some changes to the habitat, made some changes to their food source. And that's why we're trying the experiment again," said Jenifer Doane, Marketing Director at Butterfly Pavilion.

If all goes well, the larvae aboard the space station should transform into butterflies in about two to three weeks. Researchers say the experiment will show how sustainable insect life is in space.

Now you might wonder, why is that important? Well, if plants and insects can survive, scientists believe they can replicate a lot of our food sources and make it possible for humans to survive long-term in space.

A Peek at the Planets:

Make sure to bundle-up if you want to do some stargazing as we head into winter! Jupiter will be in the southern sky in the evening during November. The other planets are best seen in the early morning hours. Mars will be high in the S to SW at dawn. Saturn will climb well up in the ESE toward SSE at dawn. Venus rises about an hour before sunrise this month in the ESE.

*Make sure to catch the Leonids Meteor Shower next week! Look to the east early in the morning on Tuesday, Nov. 17th. The best viewing time will be from 4 a.m. to dawn.

The Moon in Motion:

Full Moon: Monday, November 2
Last Quarter: Monday, November 9
New Moon: Monday, November 16
First Quarter: Tuesday, November 24

This month's full moon is known as the Beaver Moon because this was when the Native American tribes would set beaver traps. They had to make sure to set them before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm furs for the winter.

From the History Books:

60 years ago, the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket exceeded the speed of sound at Edwards Air Force Base, California. It was a research plane and was powered by both a Westinghouse J-34 turbojet engine and a Reaction Motors rocket motor. The feat was accomplished on November 22, 1949.