Greetings, everyone.

So after watching what will surely go down as one of the most epic games in Twins, and even all of baseball, history, it seems a little anticlimactic to sit down and write about the 200-mile high club, but what the hey, it’s for science.

Late in July, my wife and I welcomed our first child, Liam Oran, into the world.  He is a happy and healthy 10 weeks old now, and his presence prompted my wife to suggest today’s topic when I was soliciting suggestions a few weeks ago.  While contemplating the idea of sex in space may invite more than its share of muffled laughter or red faces, for anyone who believes that the future of the human species depends on our ability to colonize outer space and other planets, it is serious business.  Not only are there the challenges of the mechanics surrounding the deed itself, but also challenges dealing with physiology, pregnancy and fetal development, marriage and family dynamics, and basic human well-being.  In short, it is unrealistic to ignore this subject if we ever wish to live anywhere other than the Earth.

Though there have been many explorations of these challenges in science fiction, to this point there is very little in the way of factual evidence to cite when it comes to actual space missions.  With a few notable (and expensive) exceptions, everyone who has ever gone into space has done so under the auspices of a government-funded program, and in this and other countries, there still exists a sizable portion of taxpayers who would find that sort of “research” unsettling or immoral.  Thus there is little actual data regarding sex in space among humans, only a lot of rumor and speculation.

However, given certain basic physical laws (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction), one can see how there could be quite a few hurdles to overcome in order to engage in the horizontal (or vertical, or diagonal, or any other directional orientation really) mambo in space without the participants flying off every which way in short order.  Amenities such as hand or footholds, belts, sleeping bags, or something called a “2suit” (invented by science fiction author Vanna Bonta) could mitigate some of this, but it would still take a good deal of practice and acclimation to microgravity in order to do it without risk of injury.  Hopefully once space tourism kicks into gear, and people start going into space for recreational purposes, we will have a bit more to go on than gossip and fertile imaginations.

When it comes to the subject of reproduction in space, there is somewhat more hard data, but all of it involves various animal species, with the only mammals being rats.  Unfortunately, early results are not encouraging.  While the mechanical difficulties of mating can be overcome, and fertilization can occur, baby rats born in space have all exhibited a lack of ability to orient themselves, something that is almost certainly due to the microgravity environment.  Also, it was found that male rats who had been in space who then returned to Earth and mated with females who hadn’t had babies with a wide range of birth defects.  Finally, given the well known physiological effects of long durations in space, such as loss of bone mass, the atrophying of various muscles, and the risks associated with exposure to radiation, it is likely that any children born in space would have a difficult time ever visiting Earth.

These effects could also have consequences for fertility, although anecdotal evidence suggests that due to changes in blood-flow patterns in space, the men could leave their Viagra at home.  In any case, we are very far from where we need to be in order to ensure that a fetus conceived in space could also develop and be delivered there as safely as one can on Earth.

In addition to the physical and biological aspects of sex in space, any discussion of the subject in a human context must include psychological considerations.  Currently NASA has plans on the drawing board to send humans back to the moon and later to Mars for missions of relatively long durations (several months to a few years), and while some have suggested that the role that sexuality will play in such missions can be mitigated by using crews consisting either of a single gender or of married couples, it is clear that any workable mission plan will need to address this explicitly and thoroughly.

Fortunately we already have a few test cases of instances where groups of 8–12 people have been confined to relatively small areas for time periods similar to the missions being planned.  Scientists wintering in Antarctica comprise one group of cases.  There is also the infamous Biosphere 2 experiment from the early 1990s.  Finally, a group called the Mars Society has for several years been running experiments at four Mars Analogue Research Stations, which simulate as far as possible the conditions actual Martian explorers will face.  What have we found from all of this?  Basically, it can be done.  While there will undoubtedly be friction and conflict, sexual or otherwise, among any small group isolated for a long period of time, with good training in communication skills and anger management, as well as developing the ability to keep oneself entertained, any future moon or Mars crew should be able to avoid killing each other.

In my brief foray into the topic of sex in space, I found that the little we know is vastly exceeded by what we do not know, and there appear to be many fruitful paths of research that could help fill the gap.  Whether or not they will actually be pursued is anyone’s guess, but I hope we are nearing the start of the era when getting it on in zero-g is discussed openly and seriously.  Lastly, I suggest that you all check out an episode from season 3 of the History Channel series “The Universe” entitled “Sex in Space”, which provided a lot of interesting material for this article.

Links:
History Channel series “The Universe”: (individual episodes can be downloaded from iTunes)
Mars Analogue Research Stations
Biosphere 2

Question: While having an all-female crew for a long duration mission is not a silver bullet for avoiding sexual expression, from what other standpoint might such a decision make sense?

Norman Barrett Wiik as a current graduate student in public policy, a board member for Camp Quest of Minnesota and Camp Quest Inc., and a lifelong enthusiast of space exploration.