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
weightlessnessWeightlessness is a phenomenon experienced by people during free-fall. Although the term zero gravity is often used as a synonym, weightlessness in orbit is not the result of the force of gravity being eliminated or even significantly reduced...
(precluding
artificial gravityArtificial gravity is a simulation of gravity in outer space or free-fall. Artificial gravity is desirable for long-term space travel or habitation, for ease of mobility and to avoid the adverse health effects of weightlessness.-Rotation:...
) 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
spaceSpace is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of the boundless four-dimensional...
.
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
weightlessnessWeightlessness is a phenomenon experienced by people during free-fall. Although the term zero gravity is often used as a synonym, weightlessness in orbit is not the result of the force of gravity being eliminated or even significantly reduced...
(precluding
artificial gravityArtificial gravity is a simulation of gravity in outer space or free-fall. Artificial gravity is desirable for long-term space travel or habitation, for ease of mobility and to avoid the adverse health effects of weightlessness.-Rotation:...
) 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
spaceSpace is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of the boundless four-dimensional...
. Past discussions often included attempts to determine speculations (e.g., about the
STS-47STS-47 was the 50th Space Shuttle mission of the program.-Crew:-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:* Mass:** Orbiter landing with payload: 99,450 kg** Payload: 12,485 kg* Perigee: 297 km* Apogee: 310 km...
mission, on which married astronauts
Mark C. LeeMark Charles Lee USAF Colonel, is a former NASA astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions. He retired from the Air Force and NASA on July 1, 2001.-Early life:...
and
Jan DavisNancy Jan Davis is a former American astronaut. A veteran of three space flights, Dr. Davis has logged over 673 hours in space. Dr...
flew), and even hoaxes, such as
Document 12-571-3570Document 12-571-3570 is a fictional document originally posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.sex on November 28, 1989. According to this document, astronauts aboard space shuttle mission STS-75 performed a variety of sex acts to determine which positions are most effective in zero gravity...
.
Experts such as Princeton astrophysics professor Dr.
J. Richard GottJohn Richard Gott III is a professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University. He is especially well known for developing and advocating two cosmological theories with the flavor of science fiction: Time travel, and the Doomsday argument.- Exotic matter time travel theories :Paul Davies's...
consider humanity's expansion into space crucial to survival, but it was considered taboo for decades of space faring exploration history.
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 HawkingStephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is a British theoretical physicist. He is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes...
publicly concurred in 2007 that possibly human survival itself will depend on successfully contending with the extreme environments of space.
Debates
The debate of sex in space has turned from taboo to discussion of human procreation, relationships and reproduction in the extreme environments of space.
Discussions include the selection process and compatibility of crews for long term missions, calls and ethics of testing, and the effects of conception and embryonic gestation in microgravity.
It is assumed that the
nervousThe nervous system is a network of specialized cells that communicate information about an organism's surroundings and itself. It processes this information and causes reactions in other parts of the body. It is composed of neurons and other specialized cells called glial cells that aid in the...
and
vestibular systemThe vestibular system, which contributes to our balance and our sense of spatial orientation, is the sensory system that provides the dominant input about movement and equilibrioception. Together with the cochlea, a part of the auditory system, it constitutes the labyrinth of the inner ear,...
s may fail to develop properly in individuals growing up in a low or a weightless environment, and that this would have implications for space-born humans making the trip to Earth
though the possibility of pregnancy in weightless environments in humans is currently uncertain.
United States
NASA has not issued any public statement as to whether or not anyone has had intercourse on space shuttle missions; a NASA spokesman (Bill Jeffs) has stated "We don't study sexuality in space, and we don't have any studies ongoing with that...If that's your specific topic, there's nothing to discuss".
Soviet Union
A Soviet research facility in the field of
space medicineSpace medicine is the practice of medicine on astronauts in outer space whereas astronautical hygiene is the application of science and technology to the prevention or control of exposure to the hazards that may cause astronaut ill health. Both these sciences work together to ensure that...
, the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBP), was involved for decades in the sex-related studies of living species in space. The Institute's interest in topic began in the early 1960s, when it noticed a difference in behavior between two dogs that had flown in space, Veterok and Ugolyok. Ugolyok, unlike Veterok, maintained quite a healthy
libidoLibido in its common usage means sexual desire; however, more technical definitions, such as those found in the work of Carl Jung, are more general, referring to libido as the free creative—or psychic—energy an individual has to put toward personal development or individuation.- History of the...
during his longer-than-average life span.
A 1976 article reported that an exposure of Wistar rats to 22 days of weightlessness and other space flight factors induced no morphological changes in the spermatogenic tissue or disorders in the spermatogenic process of the rats, and the offspring of the male "space rats" was normal in all aspects.
Regarding human sex, Dr. Anna Goncharova said that if crew members are just colleagues and friends, one should never impose on them any intimate relations for the sake of their psycho-emotional stability. It was rumored that the unhappy marriage of Soviet cosmonauts
Valentina TereshkovaValentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova is the first woman in space, now a retired Soviet cosmonaut. Out of more than four hundred applicants and then out of five finalists, she was selected to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963 and become the first woman to fly in space...
and
Andrian NikolayevAndriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev , was a Soviet cosmonaut. Ethnic Chuvash.Nikolayev flew on two space flights: Vostok 3 and Soyuz 9. His call sign in these flights was Falcon . On both, he set new endurance records for the longest time a human being had remained in orbit...
was in part instigated by the pressure of the IBP.
Sexual activity
In zero gravity there is no natural convection to carry away body heat and bodily fluids tend to pool around the body. Scientists have found that people tend to perspire more in microgravity. The sweat from sexual activity could pool as floating droplets.
Although zero gravity is a boon for saggy body parts, males might notice a "slight decrease" in penis size due to the lower blood pressure that humans experience in microgravity.
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.
The 2Suit
The
2suitThe 2suit 2S is a garment designed to facilitate effortless intimacy in the weightless environments such as outer space, or on planets with low gravity.- History :...
(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 BontaVanna Bonta is a novelist, poet and actress best known as the author of Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel the story of an amnesiac girl with no navel, and award-winning collections of poetry as well as for a cameo role as Zed's queen in the fantasy movie The Beastmaster...
, was one of the subjects of History Channel's
The UniverseThe Universe is an American documentary television series that premiered on May 29, 2007 on History. The program is produced by Flight 33 Productions and Workaholic Productions...
"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.
Popular culture
IMDBThe Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, video games, and most recently, fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media...
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 difficulties microgravity poses for human intimacy were discussed in the anonymous fictional NASA
Document 12-571-3570Document 12-571-3570 is a fictional document originally posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.sex on November 28, 1989. According to this document, astronauts aboard space shuttle mission STS-75 performed a variety of sex acts to determine which positions are most effective in zero gravity...
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 AsimovIsaac Asimov , was an American author and professor of biochemistry, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books...
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.
When
Apollo 11The Apollo 11 mission was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr...
astronaut
Michael CollinsMichael Collins is an Irish American former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, when he and command pilot John W. Young performed two rendezvous with different...
published his autobiography
Carrying the Fire in 1974, a contemporary
Time MagazineTime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
quoted the following passage:
Science fiction author
Arthur C. ClarkeSri Lankabhimanya Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, written in collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick, a collaboration which also produced the film of the same name; and as a...
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 RamaRendezvous with Rama is a novel by Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1972. Set in the 22nd century, the story involves a fifty-kilometer-long cylindrical alien starship that enters Earth's solar system...
(1973):
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.
In film
- The sci-fi horror film Supernova
Supernova is a 2000 science fiction film, from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists. The film was written by David C. Wilson, William Malone and Daniel Chuba and directed by Walter Hill, credited as "Thomas Lee."...
(2000) featured sex between several of the characters in zero-gravity areas of the Medical Ship.
- Private Media Group
Private Media Group, Inc. is a pornography production and distribution company that distributes its content via print publications, DVDs, the internet, and mobile handsets....
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 CometVomit Comet is a nickname for any fixed-wing aircraft that briefly provides a nearly weightless environment in which to train astronauts, conduct research, and film motion pictures....
). 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 AwardThe Nebula Award is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the two previous years...
, but did not win.
- A piece of filk music
Filk is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has been active since the early 1950s, and played primarily since the mid-1970s...
on the subject: author Diana G. GallagherDiana G. Gallagher is an American author who writes books for children and young adults based on television series. She has contributed to book series based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed, among others....
's Pegasus Award-winning A Reconsideration of Anatomical Docking Maneuvers in a Zero-G Environment.
- In the James Bond
James Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr...
film MoonrakerMoonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film, directed by Lewis Gilbert, co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
, James Bond (played by Roger MooreSir Roger George Moore KBE is a English actor and film producer. He is perhaps best known for portraying two British action heroes, Simon Templar in the television series The Saint from 1962 to 1969, and James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
), and the Bond girlA Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres, such as "Pussy Galore," "Mary Goodnight," "Plenty O'Toole," "May Day," "Xenia Onatopp," and "Holly Goodhead."Bond Girls are often...
, Dr. Holly GoodheadDr. Holly Goodhead is a fictional character from the James Bond franchise, portrayed by Lois Chiles. She does not appear in any of the novels, solely appearing in the film version of Moonraker...
, have sex in the cargo bay of the Moonraker 5 Space ShuttleThe Space Shuttle, part of the Space Transportation System , is a spacecraft operated by NASA for orbital human spaceflight missions. It began operations in the 1980s and is scheduled to be retired from service in 2010 after 134 launches...
in the final scene.
- The comedy Moving Violations
Moving Violations is a 1985 comedy film starring John Murray, Jennifer Tilly, Brian Backer, Sally Kellerman, Nedra Volz, Clara Peller, Wendie Jo Sperber and Fred Willard. It was directed by Neal Israel...
(1985) suggests the main characters, played by actors John MurrayJohn Murray is an American actor.He has eight siblings, including actors Bill Murray, Joel Murray, and Brian Doyle-Murray. A sister, Nancy, is an Adrian Dominican Sister in Michigan who travels around the country portraying St. Catherine of Siena...
and Jennifer TillyJennifer Tilly is an American actress. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner.-Personal life:Tilly was born Jennifer E. Chan in Harbor City, Los Angeles, California...
, have an intimate encounter in a weightlessness simulator.
- In the novelization of Alien
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto...
, Parker tells Brett about an episode of zero-G sex that went wrong.
- In the movie Cube 2: Hypercube
Cube 2: Hypercube is the sequel of the science fiction/horror film Cube. Released in , Hypercube had a bigger budget than its predecessor, and a new director, Andrzej Sekuła...
, two of the main characters have sexual intercourse while floating in the middle of a cube room
See also
- Human adaptation to space
Human physiological adaptation to the conditions of space is a challenge faced in the development of human spaceflight.The fundamental engineering problems of escaping Earth's gravity well and developing systems for in-space propulsion have been examined for well over a century, and millions of...
- Space medicine
Space medicine is the practice of medicine on astronauts in outer space whereas astronautical hygiene is the application of science and technology to the prevention or control of exposure to the hazards that may cause astronaut ill health. Both these sciences work together to ensure that...
- Space tourism
Space tourism is the recent phenomenon of tourists paying for flights into space.As of 2009, orbital space tourism opportunities are limited and expensive, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport...
- Space settlement
- Mile high club
The mile high club is a slang term applied collectively to individuals who have engaged in sexual intercourse while on board an aircraft in flight. There is no known formally constituted club so named...
- 2suit
The 2suit 2S is a garment designed to facilitate effortless intimacy in the weightless environments such as outer space, or on planets with low gravity.- History :...
- Flight suit
A flight suit is a full body garment, worn while flying an aircraft such as military airplanes, gliders and helicopters. These suits are generally made to keep the wearer warm, as well as being practical , and durable . Its appearance is usually similar to a jumpsuit. A military flight suit may...
- Space suit
A space suit is a complex system of garments, equipment and environmental systems designed to keep a person alive and comfortable in the harsh environment of outer space...
- Space advocacy
Space advocacy can be described as the general position supporting, pleading or arguing for the idea or cause of space exploration and settlements...
- Reproduction and pregnancy in speculative fiction
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
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States and available in both the US and Canada. Its name is a combination of "MSN" and "NBC"....
July 24 2006. Concept of "2suitThe 2suit 2S is a garment designed to facilitate effortless intimacy in the weightless environments such as outer space, or on planets with low gravity.- History :...
" design of American writer Vanna BontaVanna Bonta is a novelist, poet and actress best known as the author of Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel the story of an amnesiac girl with no navel, and award-winning collections of poetry as well as for a cameo role as Zed's queen in the fantasy movie The Beastmaster...
.
- 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
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
February 24 2000
- Virgin Galactic rejects $1 million space porn by Peter B. de Selding, MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States and available in both the US and Canada. Its name is a combination of "MSN" and "NBC"....
October 2 2008.