From the story archive · Fictional encounter
School event where students talk to astronauts on the ISS via live video link. Hundreds of kids, parents, and media watching. My question is selected, and just as the astronaut begins answering—BRAAAP—a barking spider joins the conversation from Earth.
The astronaut, floating in zero-G, responds: "Sorry, could you repeat that? Sometimes the space-to-Earth transmission has interference." The NASA handler later told me it was the hardest they'd seen an astronaut try not to laugh on a live feed.