ARABELLA, the Orb Weaver

Arabella, the miraculous orb weaving garden spider (Araneus diadematus), is famous for her participation in NASA's Skylab 3 space flight back in the summer of '73. Contrary to popular belief and unlike her space traveling peer Anita, Arabella survived the Skylab mission. Arabella has a distinctive white cross mark on her abdomen and has been playing the piano accordion since a wee lass. She is an accomplished electric bass player and, with sufficient practice, a weaver of traditional orb webs in near-zero-gravity environments. This latter task is particularly impressive given the fact that spiders rely on gravity and their own sense of weight to determine the amount of silk to spin into the web. In addition to the accordion and electric bass, Arabella plays the guitar, mandolin, and sqwawkophone. She has performed and toured with several musical outfits while using the color purple as her motivation.