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UPDATE: The jumping spider that recently returned from a 100-day trip aboard the International Space Station has died at the Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Magazine reports. The spider, named Nefertiti, arrived on Thursday.
The museum announced the news on Monday via its Facebook page, saying, "the loss of this special animal that inspired so many imaginations will be felt throughout the museum community."
The spider's body will be kept in the museum's records, Smithsonian says.
Nefertiti traveled to the ISS as part of a worldwide student science competition in which more than 2,000 students, aged 14 to 18, submitted entries. Amr Mohamed, 18, from Alexandria, Egypt, proposed that the experiment examine how a jumping spider, which normally leaps to catch its prey, would adjust in microgravity. Nefertiti was chosen.
In total, Nefertiti traveled around 42 million miles and circumnavigated the Earth 1,584 times. It was part of the Phidippus johnsoni species, native to western North America.
Nefertiti was the first spider to travel to space and make it back to Earth alive. Another spider that traveled to the ISS, Cleopatra, died on the descent back home.
