Space Spider Spins Symmetrical Web
THE KANSAS CITY STAR

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Space Spider Spins
Symmetrical Web
Houston (AP)—Arabella, the
space-going spider, has learned
quickly to spin an apparently
normal web without the aid of
gravity, the Skylab 2 astronauts
reported today.
; Her success was to be re-
warded with something a lot M
Americans can’t get on earth—a
piece o%fMet^^nbnt> ,,
Dr. Owen K. GarriQttgjiye an
account of Arabella’s work as
Bean and
Jack R. Lousma prepared for a
photo survey of earth resources
in western Canada and the eastr
era United Stales.
The space station wa$ tq. pass
over British Columbia, North
Dakota, Minnesota and Ohio
and across the eastern coast at
(fape Halteras as a package
of sophisticated cameras • and
sensors examine the earth and
its atmosphere.
Garriott said that for the first
day or two Arabellaw as disori-
tented by weightlessness and
could build only rudimentary
webfflthe corners o|fheri?||rf
By the third day, she had man-
aged to sjp|fi a web with a nor-
mal .circular pattern.
“Simply working on her own,
she has figured out a very nice
solution to the problems of zero
gravity ,’^S|j^Msaid.
He said he wouldn’t mind at
I all sharing his filet mignon din-
jner tonight with Arabella and
I her companion spider, Anita.
Garriptt congratulated 17-
year-old Judith Miles» a high
school student from Lexington,
Mass., who suggested the expe-
■”
He said it was
standing concept, a very inter-
esting idea and one that might
very well have some application
in studies of how some animals
and even men might think and
behave when placed in a brand-
new environment.”
Skylab medical officials re-
ported yesterday that the crew- ’
men are in excellent spirits and
are now just as healthy as were
the previous Skylab astronauts
at this point in the mission.
The only lasting effect of their
early motion sickness, a NASA
doctor said, has been a weight
loss of about five pounds a man.
J)r. Lawrence F. Dietlein also
said tests in a spinning chair on
the space station show that the
men have overcome their sus-
ceptibility to motion sickness.
THÉKANSAt CITY STAR
Stealc RewMem