A close up view of Arbella - a Skylab 3 Common Cross Spider

This Skylab 3 onboard photo is of a close-up view of Arbarella one of the two Skylab 3 common cross spiders "Araneus Diadematus" and the web it had spun in the zero gravity of space abroad the Skylab space station cluster in Earth orbit. This picture was taken with a hand held 35mm Nikon Camera. During the 59-day Skylab 3 mission the two spiders, picture and stilll camera were attatched to record the spiders attempts to build a web in the weightless environment. The spider experiment was one of 25 experiments selected for Skylab by NASA from more than 3,400 experiment proposals submitted by high school students throughout the nation. ED52 was submitted by 17-year-old Judith S.Miles of Lexington, Massachusetts. Anita died during the week of the mission.