International Sex Station?

Soon the International Space Station will be manned year-round by an international crew, and one of their missions will be to study the effects of long periods of living in microgravity, in preparation for a mission to Mars.

Now if I were on a 1.5 year trip to Mars with a mixed-gender crew, the subject of sex would come up. So this enquiring mind wants to know: is this something that NASA is going to study? (hah!)

The last time I checked, gravity came in real handy for having sex here on Earth. So are we talking using bungie cords for sex in space? What happens if you conceive while being initiated into the 100-mile-high club? Do you get a freakish space-baby that can never land on Earth? Has anybody done it already in space? Just wondering…

Ooooh! I just saw a show on The Learning Channel about gravity: “The Invisible Force”. They actually talked about sex in space and the babies that might result.

NASA wanted to see what zero gravity does to embryo development so they used frog eggs first. They found that a lot of the developmental cues in embryos are gravity-dependent. So no gravity = feet growing by the head. Or something similar.

They wanted to move on to rats but they could not find a way to keep the rats together in weightlessness. Basically, they would just float around lacking the ability to latch on to each other to copulate. NASA even considered little Velcro rat vests to keep them together but they were afraid the rodents would gnaw on the Velcro and choke.

The show also said that some astronaut and his wife have already officially(?) declared that they would like to be the first couple to try shagging in space.

There was a lot of speculation about what characteristics would be evolutionarily selected for in space babies. Shorter body and limbs, more manipulative feet, that sort of thing. Basically a human that wouldn’t last long in gravity.

Personally I’d imagine there are a lot of leverage issues that need to be dealt with in space sex. Although you could probably write a new volume of the Kama Sutra once gravity’s out of the way.
Alphagene

One thing for sure, bondage would probably be more popular in space. With at least one of the people strapped down, leverage would be easier to achieve…especially if you strap down the man and leave his hands free to hold the woman by the hips and maneuver her up and down. As someone who’s had his pubic bone almost crushed by an overenthusiastic woman-on-top, I would have to say that weightlessness sounds like a real turn-on.


Live a Lush Life
Da Chef

Traction is definitely necessary, but gravity might be dispensible. Hmmm. Does NASA have any of their engineers working on this? I’m reminded of the scene in Apollo 13 where they gather a bunch of the boys together, throw a pile of accoutrements on the table, and say “You’ve got to make this fit into that. You’ve got twenty minutes.” Well, let’s say three minutes.

Cecil has enlightened us a little on this topic. Go to his archives and search “Sex in Space”

Haven’t any of you ever had sex in the deep end of a swimming pool? It’s not as difficult as you’re making it out to be!

Papabear, deep-end swimming-pool-sex isn’t a problem (except for the annoying loss of lubrication) because the water dampens your momentum. A forward thrust in space (which is sometimes known to happen during sex) will send you across the room, and you won’t slow down until you hit the other wall. For every thrust.

But if one or both members wore seatbelts, or strapped themselves to something (which is also not so uncommon during sex), you’d be fine. Besides, astronauts are pretty used to being strapped down for all sorts of activities (sleeping, going to the bathroom, etc.)

In a pool, yes. but in the DEEP end? How do you breathe? I end up hyperventilating enough without having to tread water and/or hold my breath too!

Pity the female sea turtle. When mounted, she is submerged and has to hold her breath through the entire copulation. And male turtles are not, shall we say, quick about anything they do.

But back to the topic. I’m not sure straps would be necessary, though they might be helpful. A couple only really needs motion relative to each other. They could push and pull against each other’s inertia. I would think a bigger problem would be space constraints and a tendency to bump the head when not paying attention to one’s surroundings.

Well I can pity the female turtle for being submerged, but it must be interesting listening to a conversation among female turtles complaining about how their male turtle companions aren’t quick enough. Good thing Sting’s not a turtle.

I imagine that the Antigrav Honeymoon Suite on the Freedom space station will have padded walls. It should be relatively close to the infirmary, though. I think Cecil would have a lot more case studies of penile fracture to write about once people start knockin’ moon-boots.

Just a thought: Post-coital cleanup would have to be drastically different. As gross as a used condom is, imagine both it and its contents in a weightless environment. And I think it’s safe to say that coitus interruptus would be downright bizarre.
Alphagene

What do mixed-gender crews have to do with anything?

I think mixed genders only have to do with the original post and what got him/her thinking about sex in space. “Now if I were on a 1.5 year trip to Mars with a mixed-gender crew, the subject of sex would come up” - JoltSucker (er…interesting name, btw, considering the topic)

anyway, I’d imagine the problems would remain pretty much the same regardless of the gender of the participants.

The mechanical problems might remain similar regardless of the mix of sexes (although I think a lesbian crew would have a little less to hold on to), but the possible pregnancy problems are unlikely to surface in a same-sex crew.