Space Spider Lands in Smithsonian Display

A jumping spider has made the leap from floating in space to springing into the Smithsonian.

The "Johnson Jumper" ("Phidippus johnsoni") spider is the first of its species to return from a mission into space and successfully readjust to life on Earth. Named "Nefertiti," the arachnid astronaut, or "Spidernaut," lived for 100 days aboard the International Space Station.

Its mission over, the spider has now landed in the "Insect Zoo" at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where it will live out the rest of its life estimated to be about six months on display with other live arachnids and insects.

"The Insect Zoo is one of our most popular exhibitions, and we are thrilled that having such a great educational space also gives us the opportunity to host a critter as special as this space-traveling spider," Kirk Johnson, the Sant Director of the National Museum of Natural History, said in a statement released by the museum. "And don't think it's lost on me that the common name for this spider is the 'Jumping Johnson'; we're practically family already!"

"We welcome her to the museum," added Johnson, "and look forward to watching her story inspire young minds with the thrilling possibilities in science." [Video: Venomous Spiders on Space Station]

It came from outer space

The Spidernaut's flight was the product of YouTube Space Lab, a worldwide science project and contest that invited students to submit two-minute videos suggesting science experiments that could be conducted by the astronauts on board the space station.

One of the two experiments that was chosen through the online contest was whether a jumping spider could adjust its natural hunting technique to still catch its prey in the microgravity space environment. Proposed by 18-year-old Amr Mohamed from Alexandria, Egypt, the spider chosen for the mission was named "Nefertiti" in honor of Egypt's ancient history.

From July through October, Nefertiti was observed in orbit by NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and by researchers on the ground. In total, the jumping spider circled the Earth about 1,584 times, traveling 41,580,000 miles (66,900,000 kilometers).

"She is sort of scary; in fact I am so glad I am not a fruit fly," Williams wrote while aboard space station. "I opened up the habitat and actually saw her running around at full speed looking for something to eat. It was difficult to even get a steady picture."

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Space Spider Lands in Smithsonian Display