A bit off the subject (well, maybe not too much off the subject, as the "subject" here appears to be Critters in Space), but this space gecko saga has stirred my memory of something remotely similar to it back in the Apollo mission days:
"Apollo 12 carried the first Stowaway to the Moon. During the inflight press conference on the way back home, Commander Pete Conrad holds up a cockroach which he found in a food locker. (OK, it was really only a fake cockroach.) I'm not sure who fessed up to the prank, but Pete asks for NASA Deputy Administrator George Low. Plus, Mission Control sounds like they're laughing at an inside joke when Pete puts the critter on camera."
(Source of quote):
www.whizzospace.com/humor/humor1.htmAnd for years I had always thought that bug on board was for real.
Some kind of inside joke? Oh well.