We now know a fair deal about how the human body copes with extended weightlessness. In part, this is thanks to the Soviet cosmonauts who logged epic stays in space. Muscle atrophy and loss of body mass were only some of the learnings.
The International Space Station, which is kept supplied with materials, scientists, and engineers by the space shuttle missions, is presently hosting spiders. One of the objectives is to learn how they cope with zero-gravity.
(Keep in mind that the loss of gravity is not because of distance from earth alone. It is also due to the orbit of the station, which tends to fling objects outwards with about as much force as gravity pulls them inwards. These cancel out, giving you zero gravity.)
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