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Breakdown Forces New Look At Mars Mission Sexuality
FloatsomNJetsom writes "Popular Mechanics has up an interesting story, discussing what the long-term implications of the Lisa Nowak incident could mean for Mars Mission crew decisions: With a 30-month roundtrip, that isn't the sort of thing you'd want to happen in space. Scientists have been warning about the problems of sex on long-term spaceflight, and experts are divided as to whether you want a crew of older married couples, or asexual unitard-wearing eunuchs. The point the article makes specifically is that NASA's current archetype of highly-driven, task-oriented people might be precisely the wrong type for a Mars expedition. In addition scientists may use genomics or even functional MRI in screening astronauts, in addition to facial-recognition computers to monitor mental health during the mission." Maybe observers could just deploy the brain scanner to keep track of them?
In colonial times, people would spend up to 9 months at sea on board naval vessels. In those days it was deemed bad luck to have a woman on board, and was avoided as much as possible (except for passenger ships). The reasons behind it are obvious: 200 drunk pirates at sea for 9 months + 1 woman on board = deep trouble. Exploring space isn't that much different to what our forefathers faced a few hundred years ago. Unfortunately it's hard to state the obvious in an age of women's liberation. The answer is simple, although not a P.C one - send an all male, heterosexual crew.
Oh, dear god. That's fucking hilarious! :-)