Sex in space

Sex in space is human sexual activity in weightless and extreme environments of space. The act of human intimacy, sexual intercourse, and procreation distinguished by the state of weightlessness (precluding artificial gravity) presents difficulties surrounding the performing of most sexual activities due to Newton's Third Law. The topic also includes conception and pregnancy in off-Earth environments.

The topic has been hotly disputed to clarify its potential impact on human beings in the isolated, confined, and hazardous environment of space. Past discussions often included attempts to determine speculations (e.g., about the STS-47 mission, on which married astronauts Mark C. Lee and Jan Davis flew), and even hoaxes, such as Document 12-571-3570.

Experts such as Princeton astrophysics professor Dr. J. Richard Gott consider humanity's expansion into space crucial to survival^[1], but it was considered taboo for decades of space faring exploration history.^[2][3]

As of 2009, with NASA planning long-term missions for lunar settlements with goals to explore and colonize space, the topic has taken its respected place in life sciences. Scientist Stephen Hawking publicly concurred in 2007 that possibly human survival itself will depend on successfully contending with the extreme environments of space.^[4]

Effects of microgravity on human anatomy

Reproduction

Studies conducted on reproduction of mammals in microgravity include experiments with rats. Although the fetus developed properly, the rats that developed in microgravity lacked the ability to right themselves.^[5]

The 2Suit

The 2suit (alternately 2-Suit or twosuit) is a garment designed to facilitate effortless intimacy in the weightless environments such as outer space, or on planets with low gravity. The flight garment, invented by Vanna Bonta^[6][7][8], was one of the subjects of History Channel's The Universe "Sex in Space" documentary, September 13, 2008, which broke ground as the first documentary to open the topic of sex in space to a global mainstream audience. ^[9]

Popular culture

IMDB has the keyword "zero gravity sex" for movies, and the TV Tropes Wiki maintains an article on the depictions of space sex in media in general.

Spoof NASA document

The mission patch for STS-75, on which the hoax Document 12-571-3570 claimed space-sex experiments took place.

The difficulties microgravity poses for human intimacy were discussed in the anonymous fictional NASA Document 12-571-3570 in 1989, where the use of an elastic belt and an inflatable tunnel were proposed as solutions to these problems. A spoof mission patch and other documents were determined to be hoaxes.

In science fiction

In 1973, Isaac Asimov conjectured what sex would be like in the weightless environment of space. He anticipated some of the benefits of engaging in sex in an environment of microgravity.^[10]

When Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins published his autobiography Carrying the Fire in 1974, a contemporary Time Magazine quoted the following passage:

Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke was quick to point out in a letter to the editor that he had beaten Collins to addressing the matter in the novel Rendezvous with Rama (1973):^[12]

The magazine followed this up by running a letter from one Sharon Smith, who agreed that the presence of breasts "bobbing weightlessly" would render spacemen unable to do their jobs and added that the space program must safeguard itself by the painful but necessary step of excluding men.^[13]

In film

Wire-based special effects in Moonraker (1979).

• The sci-fi horror film Supernova (2000) featured sex between several of the characters in zero-gravity areas of the Medical Ship.

• Private Media Group filmed a brief scene for the space-themed pornographic film The Uranus Experiment in a Russian aircraft flying a parabolic track (similar to NASA's Vomit Comet). The Uranus Experiment features around 20 seconds of pornography actors Sylvia Saint and Nick Lang (who portray astronauts living on a space station) having sex in freefall. The scene was nominated for a Nebula Award, but did not win. ^[14]

• A piece of filk music on the subject: author Diana G. Gallagher's Pegasus Award-winning A Reconsideration of Anatomical Docking Maneuvers in a Zero-G Environment.

• In the James Bond film Moonraker, James Bond (played by Roger Moore), and the Bond girl, Dr. Holly Goodhead, have sex in the cargo bay of the Moonraker 5 Space Shuttle in the final scene.

• The comedy Moving Violations (1985) suggests the main characters, played by actors John Murray and Jennifer Tilly, have an intimate encounter in a weightlessness simulator.^{[citation needed]}

• In the novelization of Alien, Parker tells Brett about an episode of zero-G sex that went wrong.

• In the movie Cube 2: Hypercube, it is implied that two of the main characters have sexual intercourse while floating in the middle of a zero gravity cube room

See also

• Human adaptation to space
• Space medicine
• Space tourism
• Space architecture
• Space settlement
• Mile high club
• 2suit
• Flight suit
• Space suit
• Space advocacy
• Reproduction and pregnancy in speculative fiction

References

External links

• Adventures in Space, The Zero-G Spot, by Michael Behar; OUTSIDE Magazine, December 2006
• Outer-space sex carries complications By Alan Boyle, MSNBC July 24, 2006. Concept of "2suit" design of American writer Vanna Bonta.
• Space sex hoax rises again by James Oberg
• Pregnancy in Space Seems Possible
• Sex in Space - a book by Science Journalist Laura S. Woodmansee www.laurawoodmansee.com
• Astronauts test sex in space - but did the earth move? The Guardian February 24, 2000
• Virgin Galactic rejects $1 million space porn by Peter B. de Selding, MSNBC October 2, 2008.