Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sex in Space

Posted by Roblimo on from the how-to-make-NASA-blush dept.

Alex Farber turned us on to this story in the January 2000 issue of Scientific American about something NASA never talks about: sex in space. The article says, "Rumors of unofficial orbital couplings abound, but no one is talking." With manned (and/or womanned) Mars missions likely to take 2.5 years or more, and duty cycles on the planned International Space Station expected to be nearly six months, outer space sex is a subject even the most prudish NASA bureaucrats will not be able to avoid much longer. Face it: wouldn't you want to experiment with Zero-G lovemaking if you had a chance to do so - and you had a willing partner available whose curiosity quotient was as high as yours?

16 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting story... by Doctor+Wonky · · Score: 4


    I especially like this:

    "...the few who don't like to think about sex, at least not officially."

    How do you officially think about sex?

    Doc

  2. Blue Danube Waltz... by emerson · · Score: 3

    I can't get the image out of my head: two would-be Zero-G lovers, rotating in space to get 'aligned' correctly like the docking scene in _2001_.


    --

    1. Re:Blue Danube Waltz... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5

      While I worked there in Medical Operations, we did have some "flights of fancy" where folks versed in the functional and physiologic aspects of the activity speculated on various issues.

      1. In microgravity, one must be concerned with maintaining appropriate positioning. We discussed a variety of methods, but decided several (n=2 or 3) bungee cords would work, if they weren't too tight or too loose.

      2. In keeping with the concept of personal restraint for the Shuttle, it was decided (unofficially, of course) that this would be appropriate only on flights where the rigid sleep station was installed.

      3. The term "consenting adult" takes on new meaning when you realize that the entire living space of the Shuttle is about the size of a minivan. If your fellow crew members don't agree to your (and your partner's) activities, you could find yourself duct-taped into a corner. For the rest of the flight.

      4. Partaking of such activities is problemmatic because of the lack of a shower on the shuttle. Sponge baths were deemed unsatisfactory for further post-coital relaxation.

      5. For reasons associated with personal hygiene, the lack of a shower dictated such activities late in the mission, so that odor wasn't a major issue in the cabin.

      6. For reasons of personal hygiene, lack of a shower was expected to decrease the chances of this activity occurring as an unplanned event. Thecrew's well known for completing Crew Activity Plan (CAP) events, but unplanned optional events that are aesthetically unpleasant (like love-making after living together for 8 days in a minivan without a shower) have a history of being dropped. The participants would have to be committed to the experiment.

      So... don't think it's never been discussed by the technical folks at NASA... just never admitted to by the managers.

  3. But Seriously... by snack · · Score: 3

    With these 2.5 year trips to Mars, If there was a child concieved, would they pack some car-seats in on the spaceship?

    1. Re:But Seriously... by jeremy+f · · Score: 4

      If there was a child concieved on any space station, imagine how hard it would be for her to adjust to actual gravity? A baby born in Zero-G, and spends his first few months, even years in Zero-G is going to have a hell of a time learning how to crawl, walk, and may possibly distort her sense of balance for the rest of her life. Plus, there's physiological issues here. INS, but I think we haven't done tests on creatures born in zero-g and adjusting to gravity. Would being exposed to earth-like gravity after several years of it's life developing in zero-g crush it's internal organs, much like we would be crushed if we were to visit the surface of Jupiter (if one existed...)?

      And even the child's body wasn't crushed by the adjustment to gravity, would he even be capable of learning how to walk?

      I'm opposed to animal testing, but this is something that should be researched before someone makes a mistake and loses a child unintentionally.

      (The above is purely opinion. Take it as such :-) )

  4. Fertilization isn't necessarily the point :) by Booker · · Score: 3

    At least not on a 2.5 year Mars mission. I think you'd want to be pretty damn sure that you didn't wind up pregnant on a 2.5 year space mission... in fact, I wonder if they'd require sterilization beforehand. I mean... nobody knows how well contraceptives would work in zero-gravity, and a pregnancy could be disastrous and/or tragic...

    Surely they've contemplated that scenario?
    ----

  5. Will SOMEONE please stand up?! by Woody · · Score: 3

    I, in an effort to further the human race, do volunteer to be one of the "testees" (har) for this noble experiment. I will contribute just about any part of my body that you want in order to help with this interesting, er, thing that you are doing. Just don't tell my girlfriend. Going to Mars, or anywhere outside of Earth for that matter, is a pretty good deal, too. NASA, you can contact me at the above email address. I eagerly await your reply!

    1. Re:Will SOMEONE please stand up?! by JordanH · · Score: 3
      And, being a typical Slashdot Geek, the 74 second "test cycle" is probably well within operational parameters...

      OK, you're in, so to speak.


      -Jordan Henderson

  6. Re:It would be interesting to say the least by Kit+Lo · · Score: 3
    So either the crew would have to jury-rig something up, or NASA would have to set up a "love-room" or something

    Hmmm... The room has to be sealed (from bodily fluids as mentioned from posts above and below), but how about the amount of life support (air) required in the room? Sex is a very intense activity to the heart (and the lungs, which would I guess need a lot of air). (Oh, great! The room has a busted CO2 filter!)

    birth in space?

    For health reasons, it's better not to have a pregnant woman in space to give birth. If the lack of gravity can weaken the adult body (weakens the bone structure and all -- the reason people worried about John Glenn in space in November 1998), what would zero gravity do to the newborn's body?
    --

  7. The solution to NASA's funding woes by / · · Score: 5

    Install cameras and charge pay-per-view. That would get most of America's attention. Hell, you could pay for a lot more than 2.5 years under that funding model.

    I can see the headlines now:
    "Mons Veneris Explored Near Venetian Mountain"

    --
    "If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
  8. NEWS: NASA Announces New Strategy by cje · · Score: 5

    NASA ANNOUNCES NEW STRATEGIC VISION
    First Porno Made In Space Will Fetch "Billions", Says Administrator Goldin

    GREENBELT, MD (UPI) - After suffering several embarassing setbacks, including the loss of the Mars Polar Lander, Climate Orbiter, and XR-2300 Space Modulator, NASA has announced that it has decided to undertake a major shift in its funding paradigm and accept large donations from the private sector. This paradigm shift comes on the heels of sweeping condemnation from several key members of Congress, who have vowed to eliminate the agency from the federal government.

    With comments from the readership of Hustler magazine guiding him, NASA adminstrator Dan Goldin laid out a plan to shoot the first space-based pornographic movie. "We are confident," explained Goldin, "that space pornos can provide NASA with the funding that we need to explore the solar system and the rest of the Universe." Goldin continued: "It will make billions!"

    And perhaps Goldin is right. The American Taxpayer's Union, a Congressional watchdog organization, conducted a study on the effect of having American pornography revenue pumped directly into NASA. "Our figures indicate," explained group spokesman Terry Schmidt, "that if NASA were to go ahead with this plan, we could build a colony on Mars the size of Cleveland by the year 2002."

    Goldin's comments were made at the Press Briefing Room of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. His sentiments are also shared by U.S. president William Jefferson Clinton, who addressed the issue in his annual State of the Union speech before Congress.

    "I believe that we as a nation should commit ourselves to achieving the following goals," said Clinton. "First; I believe it should be the goal of this nation to film a porno in space before this decade is out, and return it safely to Earth." Clinton's comments were briefly drowned out by applause. "We choose to film the first orgy in space!" vowed Clinton. "We choose to film the first orgy in space .. not because it is limp, but because it is hard!"

    NASA insiders confirmed that adult film stars Ron Jeremy and Christi Canyon have been signed to a three-film deal with the space agency. The first film, tentatively entitled "Hot And Heavy Weightless Love", will be shot aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in the fall of the year 2000.

    "The agency that brought you microwave ovens and Tang is also going to be the agency that brings you the world's first zero-gee cumshot," beamed an ecstatic Goldin. "What a great time to be alive!"

    Larry Flynt contributed to this story.

    This story contained material unsuitable for children and should not have been read by any individuals under the age of 18.

    --
    We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
  9. Re:Hrm...... by Deosyne · · Score: 4

    Oh, great, so we're going to see astronauts masturbating during the NASA tour in a room labeled, "Alternate Propulsion Technologies." I think I'll just stay home...

    Deosyne

  10. "Home on Lagrange" by B. Higgins and B. Gehm by Guppy · · Score: 5

    Oh, give me a locus where the gravitons focus, Where the three-body problem is solved...

    Where the microwaves play down at three degrees K, and the cold virus never evolved.

    Home, home on Lagrange, where the space debris always collects; we've achieved, so it seems, two of man's greatest dreams...

    Solar power and zero-G sex.

  11. Re:this may have already happened by Thagg · · Score: 5
    I tried to engineer some zero-g sex, but it didn't happen.

    We at Hammerhead produced the upcoming film Supernova, and there was a call in the script for a zero-g sex shot.

    Well, Novespace, a French company, has a big A300 fitted as a zero-g research vehicle. Much like the KC-135 that NASA uses, but without all of those pesky governmental interferences. We called Novespace, and they were willing to let us rent the plane and film our zero-g sequences.

    Before we got to the point of having to reveal exactly what these sequences would be, though, the deal was scotched. While the rental price was quite reasonable (less than 200K/day) the shooting would have to be done in France. Flying the minimal movie crew to France, putting them up for a week in a style to which we'd all like to become accustomed, and flying them back raised the price to something untenable. They couldn't fly the plane to the US because the FAA hadn't given them a US type certificate.

    Now, it would be hard to have sex 30 seconds at a time; and of course it wouldn't be honest to goodness sex for our movie; but it would have been fun. It would be like nothing anybody had ever seen before.

    thad

    --
    I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
  12. Cecil Adams has covered this by Mr2001 · · Score: 5
    See part one, part two, and part three of his answer to the question "Has anyone ever had sex in space?"

    Cecil Adams is, of course, the world's smartest human and the author of the weelky column The Straight Dope.

    --
    Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
  13. Re:There have been animal tests.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3

    Several Spacelab missions have looked at various aspects of this. Rats were used in at least 2 experiments I am aware of (I've been gone from there a long time) and fish and frogs were also looked at. Chickens were also used.

    The chicks that were early in development (last fertilized before launch) were the most severely affected. The implication is, early fetal development is potentially a +G phenomenon.

    The rats were similarly affected, but not to the extent of the chicks.

    The fish and amphibs were less affected, but with a slightly increased rate of mutation (extra limbs, etc.) that was never associated statistically with the experimental conditions. The investigators had no reasons to expect that sort of response attributable to development in micro-G.

    This is an area where a lot of physiology must be divined, and a lot of experimental work must go on. One reason that HAS to happen is, it's gonna happen and NASA's gonna have to be prepared for the results.

    I expect there remains a lot of interest in the Space Physiology arm of NASA for working on these issues at the applied and basic sciences levels.