Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Spider Missing After Trip To Space Station

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the lost-in-space dept.

Garabito writes "A spider that had been sent to the International Space Station for a school science program was lost. Two arachnids were sent in order to know if spiders can survive and make webs in space, but now only one spider can be seen in the container. NASA isn't sure where the other spider could have gone. I, for one, welcome our new arachnid overlords."

39 of 507 comments (clear)

  1. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  2. Let me be the first to say by Hasney · · Score: 5, Funny

    I for one, welcome our ne.....

    Damn you summary for stealing our memes!

  3. Isn't there extra radiation in space? by gurps_npc · · Score: 5, Funny

    If I were those astronauts, I'd be hoping the spider bites me.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  4. Missing spider by Cruciform · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lost.
    That's what the other spider claims, anyway. In other news, that spider just submitted a replacement for ReiserFS.

    1. Re:Missing spider by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      too soon

  5. spiders on a spaceship! by thrillseeker · · Score: 5, Funny

    Samuel Jackson just got a 3AM phone call ...

  6. First Post From Space by MediumWare · · Score: 5, Funny

    All your webs are belong to us

  7. Origin Story? by senor_burt · · Score: 5, Funny
    I am reminded of this Onion story...

    Boy Bitten by Radioactive Spider Dies of Leukemia (Sorry, couldn't source the original)...

  8. Missing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If right now, I were an astronaut wearing a spacesuit, I guess I'd be feeling kind of itchy all over...

  9. Sounds to me like Sabotage by kipin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Step 1: "Lose" toolbag in space
    Step 2: "Lose" spider in space
    Step 3: ????
    Step 4: Space domination

    --
    If I can not smoke in heaven, then I shall not go. -- Mark Twain
  10. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  11. Yo.... by codefungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...check the lid.

    --
    -- A cat is no trade for integrity!
  12. Not necessarily by Moraelin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    All spiders can only ingest liquid food, and in fact have two filters to prevent solids from getting in.

    From there it gets funnier:

    - most spiders simply inject the prey with enzymes that liquefy its innards, then suck the resulting liquid lunch. In this case they'd still find the empty chitin shell of the spider.

    - some actually "chew" the food while flooding it with enzymes to dissolve it, but I'm guessing even in this case they'd still find legs and whatnot from the dead spider.

    I guess the big question at this point is exactly what species of spider were these two.

    --
    A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
    1. Re:Not necessarily by theinvisibleguy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I had a bunch of spider eggs in a jar when I was younger, after they hatched they kept getting smaller in number without leaving anything behind. You could definitely tell which spiders were eating the others since they were about twice their previous size.

    2. Re:Not necessarily by vux984 · · Score: 5, Funny

      They quoted a NASA official as saying that just because we can't see it doesn't mean it isn't in the box, we haven't opened the box to verify it.

      Schrödinger's spider?

    3. Re:Not necessarily by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Funny

      Why haven't we seen this effect on humans yet?

      I was going to make a joke about how we had, and the Columbia disaster was actually a deliberate destruction so the public wouldn't realize NASA's cannibalism problem when only half the crew came back. But then I thought "Naw, too soon." But then I thought "Aw, what the hell."

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    4. Re:Not necessarily by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're right, that was very insensitive of me. I'm sorry if I offended you. Now to smooth things over with the healing power of laughter, here are some cannibal astronaut jokes.

      Q: What do you call an astronaut that leaves the ship without a space suit?
      A: Frozen dinner.

      Q: Why was the astronaut afraid to go back in the shuttle when she lost her tool bag?
      A: She didn't want to get chewed out.

      Q: Why were the astronauts upset when NASA invented a red wine equivalent of Tang?
      A: Because everyone knows red wines don't go with white meat.

      Ah, that was cathartic. I feel much better. You?

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  13. not missing by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's not really missing. It's just busy working on a collaboration with David Bowie.

    --
    This guy's the limit!
  14. Link to original, more detailed, story. by Khemisty · · Score: 5, Informative

    My god people, is slashdot actually linking to ABC action news? I mean come on, firstly the summary (of the summary) is woefully incomplete.. Even though the original link also belongs to ABC at least it doesnt have the word "action" attached to "news". I'm just waiting for ABC's next upgrade to SEXY, ACTION NEWS... a bit elitist? Maybe.. but at least the original link clarifies the story rather than leaving out information in order to make the story more "exciting".. From TFA: "NASA isn't sure where the spider could have gone." Doesn't mean they don't have an idea..

    From the original article: "Kirk Shireman, deputy shuttle program manager, says that while only one spider is visible, that doesn't mean the other is missing. 'We don't believe he has escaped the payload. I am sure we will find him spinning a web somewhere in the next few days."

  15. Re:Where oh where? by saider · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's why Heidi let the bag go yesterday. I know my wife runs out of the room screaming when she sees a spider.

    --


    Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
  16. Enough is Enough! by GogglesPisano · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have had it with these motherf***ing spiders on this motherf***ing space station!

    (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

  17. Dupe from 1973 by Yossarian45793 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The spider webs in space experiment was already tried in 1973 aboard Skylab.

  18. A few centuries from now... by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...an alien probe named S'pdr will encounter the USS Enterprise.

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  19. Re:Where oh where? by MindKata · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I would guess: outside the container!"

    Found it!

    --
    There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
  20. Re:It's simple! by click2005 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nah, its off filming the sequel to Snakes on a Plane... Spiders on the Shuttle

    --
    I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
  21. Re:Where oh where? by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Spiders on drugs is just as interesting. (Video) (Pictures)

    Think about that before your next Jolt Cola.

  22. Re:That is why.... by andrewd18 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I want my own Redundant Array of Independent Spiders!

  23. Re:Where oh where? by Jimmy+King · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because for every spider we send to space, that's one less left here on earth trying to eat us.

  24. Re:Where oh where? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

    The only reason that THC is illegal and caffeine is legal is because Big Caffeine is so powerful. Fuckin' JFK killed in Dallas, same place Starbucks started. Makes you think, don't it?

    Don't bogart that thing, man. Pass it over here.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  25. Actually, no missing spider at all. by djonce · · Score: 5, Informative

    Another case of news media sensationalizing what really happened. There are two spiders in the habitat (spider habaitat, not ISS human habitat). The goal is to see how two spiders will interact in micro-gravity.

    For about the first 24 hours after launch only one spider was seen. After that BioServe Space Technologies at CU Boulder (the group responsible for the habitat) located the other spider. It had simply been outside of the view of the camera.

  26. Re:Where oh where? by heritage727 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So we've got a spider with 8 arms, a bag of sophisticated tools, and a good source of mutagenic cosmic radiation. I don't like the look of this.

  27. Spiders in space... by Sergey23 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hypothetically let us say that the spider somehow ended up outside the space shuttle. The question is what would happen to a spider if we left it floating in space for a week or two? Considering that they're cold blooded and their circulatory system is rather basic and non-pressurized (since all the organs bathe in a pool of copper based blood) will the spider die? And, if so, from what?

  28. Re:makes by geminidomino · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm in ur ear, layin mah eggz.....

  29. Re:Where oh where? by atomicthumbs · · Score: 5, Funny

    STATUS CHECK 11/19/08 00:00 UTC: EARTH PRESENT
    STATUS CHECK 11/20/08 00:00 UTC: EARTH PRESENT
    STATUS CHECK 11/21/08 00:00 UTC: EARTH MISSING, PLEASE VERIFY
    STATUS CHECK 11/22/08 00:00 UTC: EARTH PRESENT
    STATUS CHECK 11/22/08 16:05 UTC: ION CANNON COORDINATES RECIEVED. FIRING
    STATUS CHECK 11/23/08 00:00 UTC: EARTH PRESENT

    --
    http://pinopsida.com
  30. Re:Where oh where? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well I don't know I
    Heard it started
    Out
    Of a
    Small town just outside Dallas
    However I might be wrong.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  31. Re:Where oh where? by x102output · · Score: 5, Informative

    "But the reality is that these creatures will rarely sting unless you disturb them or their nest(at least in europe)."


    No way. I grew up in Pennsylvania with a swimming pool in my backyard. You wouldn't believe how much insects a pool in that area attracts. Many, many times if a few friends were over to swim, and the wasps felt threatened of their water source (for their nests in our attic) then they would get very aggressive. They would even just randomly sting people lounging out on the deck. Bumble bee's are one thing, but wasps just don't even want you nearby (even if you were there first). Also, you preyed everytime you mowed the lawn that you wouldn't disturb an underground nest...

  32. Re:Where oh where? by El+Torico · · Score: 5, Funny

    Shuttle Flight: $500 million
    Spider habitat: $9
    Losing half of test subjects: Priceless

    --
    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
  33. Re:Where oh where? by brokenhorse · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is a shamless plug to my photography site but I taken some hardocre photos of spiders, wasps and mantises over the years. If you have a fear of spiders and wasps, this might be the gentle exposure you need.

  34. Re:Where oh where? by DarthJohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually youve probably eaten more spiders than spiders have eaten you.

    so far