Even though there is no direct internet connection to the Space Station, the International Space Station has no direct internet access, but astronauts can send and receive mail though a KU band data link also used for data and video transfer.

That means the space station laptops are not connected to the net, according to Humphries.

"Everything is scanned before it goes up, so it's an indirect connection.

NASA and its partners in the space station are now trying to figure out how the virus made it onboard and how to prevent that in the future.

NASA declined to name the virus, but SpaceRef.com, which broke the story, reported that the worm was W32.Gammima.AG worm -- a worm first detected in August 2007 that installs software that steals credentials for online games.

More information is available at Wired.