Editing Skylab 3 (section)

==Spider web experiment==
Spider webs were spun by two female [[European garden spider]]s (cross spiders) called Arabella and Anita, as part of an experiment on Skylab 3.<ref name="AiS">{{cite book |last1=Burgess |first1=Colin |first2=Chris |last2=Dubbs |title=Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle |publisher=Praxis |location=Chichester UK |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-387-36053-9 |pages=323–26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sv_plWzWdeoC}}</ref> The aim of the experiment was to test whether the two spiders would spin webs in space, and, if so, whether these webs would be the same as those that spiders produced on Earth. The experiment was a student project of Judy Miles of [[Lexington, Massachusetts]].<ref name="AiS"/>

After the launch the spiders were released by astronaut [[Owen Garriott]] into a box that resembled a window frame.<ref name="AiS"/> The spiders proceeded to construct their web while a camera took photographs and examined the spiders' behavior in a [[Weightlessness|zero-gravity]] environment. Both spiders took a long time to adapt to their weightless existence. However, after a day, Arabella spun the first web in the experimental cage, although it was initially incomplete.
[[File:Arabella web aboard second Skylab mission (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|The first web spun by the spider Arabella in orbit]]

The web was completed the following day. The crew members were prompted to expand the initial protocol. They fed and watered the spiders, giving them a house fly.<ref>{{cite web | title = Spiders in Space on Skylab 3 | publisher = About.com | url = http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryinthenews/a/spiders-in-space-skylab.htm | access-date = 2010-08-13 | archive-date = October 21, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111021164524/http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryinthenews/a/spiders-in-space-skylab.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> The first web was removed on August 13 to allow Arabella to construct a second web. At first, she failed to construct a new web. When given more water, she built a second web. This time, it was more elaborate than the first. Both spiders died during the mission, possibly from [[dehydration]].<ref name="AiS"/>

When scientists studied the webs they discovered that the space webs were finer than normal Earth webs, and although the patterns of the web were not totally dissimilar, variations were spotted, and there was a definite difference in the characteristics of the web. The webs were finer overall, and the space web had variations in thickness. This was unusual, because Earth webs have been observed to have uniform thickness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/search/Details/Earliest-spider-web-in-space/63486.htm|title=Guinness World Records|website=www.guinnessworldrecords.com|language=en|access-date=2017-12-23}}</ref>

Later experiments indicated that having a light source could orient the spiders and enable them to build their normal asymmetric webs when gravity was not a factor.<ref>Zschokke, S., Countryman, S., Cushing, P. E., ''[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00114-020-01708-8 Spiders in space—orb-web-related behaviour in zero gravity]'', The Science of Nature, 108, 1 (2021), pdf available via https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-020-01708-8</ref><ref>Dvorsky, George, ''[https://gizmodo.com/space-station-spiders-found-a-hack-to-build-webs-withou-1845851520 Space Station Spiders Found a Hack to Build Webs Without Gravity]'', ''[[Gizmodo]]'', December 10, 2020</ref>