Science Friday - Sex in Space

James Bond did it in Moonraker with Dr. Holly Goodhead.  It was part of the sci-fi horror Supernova.  But has zero-g space sex been tried by our astronauts? Or by Russia's Cosmonauts?

A new report by The Guardian reports that both NASA and Mission Control in Moscow have authorized "studies" into space sex.

Pierre Kohler, a respected French scientific writer, says in The Final Mission: Mir, The Human Adventure that the subject is taboo both at Nasa and at mission control in Moscow, but that cosmic couplings have taken place.

"The issue of sex in space is a serious one," he says. "The experiments carried out so far relate to missions planned for married couples on the future International Space Station, the successor to Mir. Scientists need to know how far sexual relations are possible without gravity."

 

So these sessions are so hush-hush that the agencies will not go on the record and confirm the reports or admit to the claim made in the article that the sessions were filmed . . . sounds like a natural for YouTube, doesn't it?  What positions would succeed in a zero-G coupling, not missionary, it seems.  No Fundamentalist Christians in space, thank you very much.

Twenty positions were tested by computer simulation to obtain the best 10, he says. "Two guinea pigs then tested them in real zero-gravity conditions. The results were videotaped but are considered so sensitive that even Nasa was only given a censored version."

Only four positions were found possible without "mechanical assistance". The other six needed a special elastic belt and inflatable tunnel, like an open-ended sleeping bag.

Mr Kohler says: "One of the principal findings was that the classic so-called missionary position, which is so easy on earth when gravity pushes one downwards, is simply not possible."

Now that's the best use of tax dollars since the invention of the Fischer Space Pen.

- rick, ready to join the 211 miles high club

Comments

[a rose is a rose]

rick rick rick, you and i both know, NO studies needed to be done. where there is a will, there is a WAY. if people want to do the nasty, they're gonna do it. gravity OR NOT. guinea pigs or not. space tunnels and elastic belts or not. as prince said, 'do me baby'

[a rose is a rose]

rick rick rick, you and i both know, NO studies needed to be done. where there is a will, there is a WAY. if people want to do the nasty, they're gonna do it. gravity OR NOT. guinea pigs or not. space tunnels and elastic belts or not. as prince said, 'do me baby' (especially in space)

[jane]

Uh oh, looks like it's a double-post day. I commented on yesterday's thread and it's not there.

Now that is has been suggested, I want to have sex in space. Great. Another thing I want and will never have; thanks a lot.

p.s. censored guinea pig sex?

[Success Warrior]

The space hotel is going to have both the belts and the sex tunnel as standard equipment. Someone must know about these studies.

[Cherise]

Now this is the type of science I could get into. ;)

[julieann henneman]

But what if the rocket launches prematurely? One will be seeing the stars, the other, the ceiling. *sigh*

[Graeme]

at this point, i'd be thrilled with sex on earth.