Virus Infects Space Station Laptops (Again)

Viruses intended to steal passwords and send them to a remote server infected laptops in the Iss_laptopsInternational Space Station in July, NASA confirmed Tuesday.

And according to NASA, this wasn't the first infection. "This is not the first time we have had a worm or a virus," NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries said. "It's not a frequent occurrence, but this isn't the first time."

That suggests that even in the future where space travel becomes an experience to complain about, rather than get dressed up for, computer viruses will still be tagging along uninvited. NASA downplayed the news, calling the virus mainly a "nuisance" that was on non-critical space station laptops used for things like e-mail and nutritional experiments.