Fresh from losing an entire toolkit, NASA astronauts have taken clumsy to new levels by losing a spider.

When Space Shuttle Endeavour took off from Kennedy Space Center this month, the crew carried two spiders with them. The spiders were part of a school science program where students wanted to know if spiders can survive and makes webs in space. But now there’s only one spider.

Have no fear though, the future of Space Travel is in the safe hands of spin doctors, with NASA managers insisting that the orb-weaver spider “was not exactly lost, it just couldn’t be found.”

“We don’t believe that it’s escaped the overall payload enclosure,” assured Kirk Shireman, NASA’s deputy space station program manager.

As the submitter on Slashdot noted, I, for one, welcome our new arachnid overlords.