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NASA Puts A Stop To Space Romance
electro-donkey writes "According to a New Scientist article, romantic entanglements among astronauts could derail long-haul space trips. A top-level NASA panel has decided, though it could alleviate boredom, space sex could cause trouble too. On a mission to Mars, for example, which would take up to 30 months, sexual conflict or infidelity could lead to a 'breakdown in crew functioning'."
No space sex? Why the hell am I wasting my time at astronaut school, then?!
Just because you sold your soul to the devil that needn't make you a teetotaler. --The Devil and Daniel Webster
Haven't these people seen Star Trek? Kirk did it with every green woman in space, and that crew turned out fine...
they will be reading Slashdot. It's the only medicine for 30 months without sex.
Just send a married couple, two gays, two lesbians, the Pope and Darl McBride on the mission.
Since no one loves Darl, and the Pope loves everyone but does not have sex, relationships are stable.
I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
In a mission to Mars, for example, which would take up to 30 months, sexual conflict or infidelity could lead to a 'breakdown in crew functioning'.
30 months??? Who the heck can function properly without sex for 30 months?
I am offering my services to NASA. As a true geek (obvious by reading Slashdot at 8:30Z) I would stick to the pure sciences of the mission and clearly state now that I not interested in sex by any means. Who needs sex when you have zero gravity anywho!
Yes! I listen to NYC Speedcore and do math at 3AM. I suggest you try it too.
Fine to make such a well-considered policy -- but if the astronauts are like these brutes, they'll ignore the rules and revert to their natural behavior:
"Sexual harassment may also endanger a mission. In an 8-month space station simulation on Earth in 2000, a Russian man twice tried to kiss a Canadian woman researcher just after two other Russians had gotten into a bloody brawl. As a result, locks were installed between the Russian and international crews' compartments."
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Ensure that every member is a complete slut.
At least you'd have privacy for the moment of climax. In space, no one can hear you scream...
Nothing in the article suggest they will put a stop on it.
It's just another overgeneral article about pro's and cons of relationships on long missions, and some examples.
Oh, and they're going to stuy it some more...
Nothing to see here, move along.
They'd be killing all their birds with one stone, for pete's sake. Huge media coverage, lucrative advertising sponsorships... man NASA would be overfunded and popular again for the first time since the 60's. C'mon NASA, give America what it really wants!
They could call it "Pigs in Space" or wait.. yeah that one was taken. Too bad it's a classic.
"Vote 'em off the shuttle!"
[I have no name!:/]# _
What is worse than 30 months without sex? 30 months in a small closed environment, where others have sex, but you don't get any.
Man, that would get me frustrated beyond reason. And the realisation of this is why I understand why NASA is doing this.
Actually, 30 months without sex, I think I could do it if I were on such a mission. Because I would be mentally prepared for this. I know the other crewmembers are not having sex either. And the sex fixation in our siciety would not be there on a daily basis. Of course, I would expect periods of frustration. But I don't think it would be a major problem.
When there is no potential for sex, when there is no constant reminder of sex around you, it is much easier to live without it. But if others in your crew are having sex, and you don't get any. That would really make things difficult.
Of course, drugs that temporary kill libido would be very welcome too.
No matter how weird things get, the air will clear when ground control calls to remind the crew, "if you miss the timing on this deorbit burn, you're all going to burn to death."
No Earth-based station simulation is going to completely capture the urgency of real space travel.
You're forgetting the pilot and first officer of Serenity.
(You know, that blonde geeky guy and the hot chick from Cleopatra 2525.)
They're married and get it on regularly (it seems), but the only conflict that I've seen them have is that he sometimes gets jealous of the relationship between his wife and the captain, and she wants a kid but he doesn't.
Also, Serenity is a small ship with a small crew, and no holodeck, replicators, or transporters.
All in all, Firefly seems to be a much closer match to what an actual Mars mission would be like, in terms of technology and the size of the ship and crew, than the various Star Trek scenarios.
Well, except for the artificial gravity.
And the hooker.
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
Three days is more than I can usually handle without my brain going into a fit of chaos.
If you're telling the truth about this, then your brain is already in a continual fit of chaos.
Anything worth doing is worth doing badly -- G.K. Chesterton
is FORBIDDEN space sex
General "Buck" Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?
Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious... service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature. Ambassador de Sadesky: I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.
"Sex and romantic entanglements among astronauts could derail missions to Mars and should therefore be studied by NASA, warns a top-level panel of US researchers."
So in reality we've got a top-level panel of US researches who are tantalizingly close to achieving the ultimate Holy Grail - pursuing workplace sex, romantic entanglements and porn in the name of "research".
Godspeed lads, godspeed.
Send them up half male and half female with orders that they need to rotate partners on a daily basis. Well laid people with multiple partners they aren't previously attached to are less likely to get into jealous rages or similar problems.
How would mandatory daily sex be any better than forbidden sex? What if you're gay -- can you turn down partners of the other sex? Or, despite your qualifications, do you not get to go on the mission at all, since it's unlikely you'd get provided with more than one other gay partner in the article's 6-8 member crew? What if you're straight and just aren't attracted to a particular member of the opposite sex -- do you get to turn them down, too? Are you going to carefully choose four attractive straight men and four attractive straight women for your mission and hope that none of them realizes mid-journey that they're actually interested in someone of the same sex and messes your little rotations up? You really think mandating sex will be less disruptive than forbidding it or just letting it happen on its own?
These people are astronauts and know their lifes depend on working together. If they can't work together even when they hate each other (or worse - love each other) then they shouldn't be sent up.
Exactly. They're highly trained intelligent adults; there shouldn't be any need for either sex bans or your solution. They should be tested for their ability to peacefully coexist with a small group of people for sustained periods of time before they're chosen for the mission, since this is a key requirement for their job, and then trusted to live up to their training. Someone who's prone to jealous rages shouldn't be sent, regardless of their overall brilliance. Other than that, as long as the group regularly voices its concerns and deals with them, I fail to see what the problem of space relationships would be.