STS003-23-178 (22-30 March 1982) --- Astronaut C. Gordon Fullerton, STS-3 pilot, examines Student Experiment 81-8 (SE-81-8) Insect Flight Motion Study taped to the airlock on aft middeck. Todd Nelson, a high school senior from Minnesota, won a national contest to fly his experiment on this particular flight. Moths, flies, and bees were studied in the near weightless environment. Photo credit: NASA

Commander Jack Lousma examines Insect Flight Motion Study (Student Experiment) taped to the airlock on the aft middeck. Lousma points to velvetbean caterpillar moth activity with a pen.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A moth with unusual markings is captured on the ground at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Insects are abundant throughout the center as it shares a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Approximately one half of the Refuge's 140,000 acres consists of brackish estuaries and marshes. The remaining lands consist of coastal dunes, scrub oaks, pine forests and flatwoods, and palm and oak hammocks. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - During solid rocket booster lifting operations on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, a moth is spotted resting on a structure, oblivious to the action around it. The SRB will be mated with the Boeing Delta II rocket already in place. The Delta rocket is the launch vehicle for NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). Preparations are under way for a liftoff no earlier than Aug. 1. STEREO consists of two spacecraft whose mission is the first to take measurements of the sun and solar wind in 3-D. This new view will improve our understanding of space weather and its impact on the Earth. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

ISS011-E-09504 (24 June 2005) --- Ekuma River and Etosha Pan, Namibia are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 11 crewmember on the International Space Station. Etosha Pan, northern Namibia, is a large (120 kilometers or 75 mile long) dry lakebed in the Kalahari Desert. The lake and surrounds are protected today as one of Namibia’s largest wildlife parks. Herds of elephants occupy the dense mopane woodland on the south side of the lake. Mopane trees are common throughout south-central Africa, and host the mopane worm (the larval form of the Mopane Emperor Moth)–an important source of protein for rural communities. According to scientists, about 16,000 years ago, when ice sheets were melting across Northern Hemisphere land masses, a wet climate phase in southern Africa filled Etosha Lake. Today, Etosha Pan is seldom seen with even a thin sheet of water covering the salt pan. Typically, little river water or sediment reaches the dry lake because water seeps into the riverbed along its 250 kilometers (155 miles) course, reducing discharge along the way.

STS003-23-175 (22-30 March 1982) --- Student Experiment 81-8 (SE-81-8) Insect Flight Motion Study taped to the airlock on aft middeck of space shuttle Columbia. Photo credit: NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Near Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a Golden-Silk Spider repairs its web after a capturing a moth. The golden-silk spider repairs the webbing each day, replacing half but never the whole web at one time. Its web may measure two to three feet across. The center shares a boundary with the Merritt Island Wildlife Nature Refuge, consisting of 140,000 acres. The Refuge provides a wide variety of habitats: coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks that provide habitat for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals. Atlantis and its crew of four; Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim are scheduled to lift off at 11:26 a.m. EDT on July 8 to deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station. Atlantis also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission experiment that will investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites in orbit. In addition, Atlantis will return with a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS-135 is the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html. Photo credit: Ken Thornsley

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Near Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a Golden-Silk Spider repairs its web after a capturing a moth. The golden-silk spider repairs the webbing each day, replacing half but never the whole web at one time. Its web may measure two to three feet across. The center shares a boundary with the Merritt Island Wildlife Nature Refuge, consisting of 140,000 acres. The Refuge provides a wide variety of habitats: coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks that provide habitat for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals. Atlantis and its crew of four; Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim are scheduled to lift off at 11:26 a.m. EDT on July 8 to deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station. Atlantis also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission experiment that will investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites in orbit. In addition, Atlantis will return with a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS-135 is the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html. Photo credit: Ken Thornsley

ISS012-E-23057 (2 March 2006) --- Ekuma River and Etosha Pan, Namibia are featured in this close-up image photographed by an Expedition 12 crewmember on the International Space Station. Etosha Pan, northern Namibia, is a large (120 kilometers or 75 mile long) dry lakebed in the Kalahari Desert. The lake and surrounds are protected today as one of Namibia’s largest wildlife parks. Herds of elephant occupy the dense mopane woodland on the south side of the lake. Mopane trees are common throughout south-central Africa, and host the mopane worm (the larval form of the Mopane Emperor Moth)–an important source of protein for rural communities. According to scientists, about 16,000 years ago, when ice sheets were melting across Northern Hemisphere land masses, a wet climate phase in southern Africa filled Etosha Lake. Today, Etosha Pan is seldom seen with even a thin sheet of water covering the salt pan. This view shows the point where the Ekuma River flows into the salt lake. The Ekuma River is almost never seen with water, but in early 2006 rainfall twice the average amount in the river’s catchment generated flow. Greens and browns show vegetation and algae growing in different depths of water where the river enters the dry lake. Typically, little river water or sediment reaches the dry lake because water seeps into the riverbed along its 250 kilometers (155 miles) course, reducing discharge along the way. In this image, there was enough surface flow to reach the Pan, but too little water reached the mouth of the river to flow beyond the inlet bay. The unusual levels of precipitation also filled several small, usually dry lakes to the north of Etosha Pan.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Near Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a Golden-Silk Spider repairs its web after a capturing a moth. The golden-silk spider repairs the webbing each day, replacing half but never the whole web at one time. Its web may measure two to three feet across. The center shares a boundary with the Merritt Island Wildlife Nature Refuge, consisting of 140,000 acres. The Refuge provides a wide variety of habitats: coastal dunes, saltwater estuaries and marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods, and hardwood hammocks that provide habitat for more than 1,500 species of plants and animals. Atlantis and its crew of four; Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim are scheduled to lift off at 11:26 a.m. EDT on July 8 to deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station. Atlantis also will fly the Robotic Refueling Mission experiment that will investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites in orbit. In addition, Atlantis will return with a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS-135 is the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html. Photo credit: Ken Thornsley