Weddings in
space could be right around the corner, and experts figure the inevitable
cosmic consummation will be just around the next corner.
The
Japanese firm First Advantage and the U.S.-based private spaceflight firm
Rocketplane Global, Inc., announced last week they will host weddings
in space for about $2.3 million (240 million yen) apiece.
For all we
know, sex in space has already taken place. But NASA officials aren't talking
about that much.
Beyond
space tourism as a platform for steamy shenanigans, space missions are the
perfect petri dishes for close encounters, and this year NASA certainly has a
busy flight schedule, with five missions planned. And more countries than ever
are now venturing into space, with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata slated to
become Japan's first long-duration space flyer this year and China gearing up
for its first spacewalk scheduled for October.
Things will
get even more interesting with future long-duration missions envisioned for the
moon, Mars and beyond.
"To say
that astronauts are some superior beings who cannot have interests in any kind
of sexual
feelings for three years ... I just don't buy it," said Jason Kring of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. Kring also pointed out the possibly negative
consequences of pregnancies in a microgravity environment.
"Are
we going to sterilize our crew members before sending them to Mars?" said
Kring, who studies the psychological effects of long-duration space missions.
Meanwhile, nobody
claims to know whether "it" has happened already in space.
"We
don't study sexuality in space, and we don't have any studies ongoing with
that," said NASA spokesman Bill Jeffs of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "If that's your specific topic, there's nothing to discuss," he
added, referring to "sex in space."
In any
case, science journalist Laura Woodmansee, who penned "Sex in Space" (CG
Publishing Inc., 2006), predicts "honeymoons in space and out-of-this-world
sex will be a reality within a decade."
Close
encounters
Small
groups tapped for lengthy space stints will likely experience related psychological
effects. For instance, trivial annoyances could become divorce-level issues
for couples. Other interactions are likely to be far more enjoyable.
Here on
Earth, the closest analog to long-term isolation of groups in space is the
South Pole, where about 200 researchers live year-round.
Last month,
before six months of winter darkness descended over Antarctica's McMurdo
Station, the research base received a delivery of about 16,500 condoms.
"There's
an unspoken behavior there [at the polar base] where you take a spouse for the
time you're there — you have an exclusive
relationship with someone," Kring told SPACE.com. "It's
understood that when you leave, that relationship is over."
He added,
"I don't know how it's going to work on a three-year mission to Mars."
Lawrence
Palinkas, a professor of social work, anthropology and preventive medicine at
UCLA, agreed.
"Certainly
at polar research stations, there's sexual relations, sexual contact, between
men and women," Palinkas said. "On a three-year mission to Mars,
that's a possibility as well, although NASA in the past has tried to downplay
the need for and the implications of sexual needs on a mission that long."
Coed
crews
Up until
the 1980s, NASA crews were all male. In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American
woman in space aboard the shuttle Challenger. Missions now routinely include
one or two women.
"[For]
a true long-duration mission if we go to Mars or back to the moon, politically,
I don't think you're going to see an all male or all 'American' crew,"
Kring said.
Politics
aside, "research would suggest that a mixed crew of men and women would
probably be best," Kring said. "And this goes back to the Antarctic
research where it used to be the expeditions were all men."
Nonetheless,
co-ed crews, like the all-male ones, will have hefty workloads and little play time.
"They're
mission-oriented. They're very focused on the task at hand," said NASA
spokesperson Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters of the Johnson Space Center.
Sexual
frustration could ensue, however. "Human sexuality is a basic need and now
you're trying to tell people, 'Hey for three years, you can't do that.' They're
going to figure out a way to do it," Kring said.
If they do,
they're on their own for now. Palinkas said there "is no official
policy" at NASA regarding sex on space missions. "There really has
been no research conducted on the area to know whether it [sex in space] would
be a good thing or a bad thing," he said, "but it probably is
inevitable."
How it
works
Sex is
about more than psychology
and rules and mission plans, of course. And when you get down to it, the
key to successful sex in space is about managing a microgravity environment.
In "Sex
in Space," Woodmansee describes several positions that might work, ranging
from the modified missionary position to seated with "interlocking Y
legs."
Props also
could come into play, including a shared elastic waistband or tethers to hold
one partner to a stable structure, she writes.
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