It has been widely reported that this organism survived for over two years on the Surveyor 3 probe on the moon; but some NASA scientists suggest this may be a result of contamination during or after return of Surveyor parts to Earth, as the person assembling the camera may have sneezed.
It is widely claimed that a common type of bacterium, Streptococcus mitis, accidentally contaminated the Surveyor's camera prior to launch, and that the bacteria survived dormant in the harsh lunar environment for two and one-half years, supposedly then to be detected when Apollo 12 brought the Surveyor's camera back to the Earth.
Streptococcus | Streptococcus mutans | Streptococcus suis | Streptococcus mitis |