# Sex In Space **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 18, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182 "2008-02-18T23:55:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/1 "2008-02-18T23:55:06Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4\_214.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_214.html) This is purely anecdotal. I have a friend who works for NASA. He’s pretty highly placed. He says that if one were to be allowed to view the tapes of numerous flights, one would find that occasionally a camera would “malfunction” in a secluded area (or as secluded as one can get). A repair team would “fix” it. The repair team was a male/female pair of astronauts. The “repairs” usually took 45 minutes to an hour. The repair team was quite happy after successfully “repairing” the camera. Draw your own conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/2 "2008-02-19T01:34:59Z")
Pure bullcrap, in my opinion. Do you buy bridges in New York, too? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/3 "2008-02-19T02:42:38Z")
I said it before, I’ll say it again, Cecil we expect you to know that a lava lamp won’t work in zero gravity ---
**Author:** ![mwbrooks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mwbrooks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mwbrooks)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/4 "2008-02-19T02:56:45Z")
[QUOTE=outlierrn] I said it before, I’ll say it again, Cecil we expect you to know that a lava lamp won’t work in zero gravity [/QUOTE] I doubt they work on Earth, either, for the purpose implied. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/5 "2008-02-19T03:44:02Z")
I find the scenario of malfunctioning cameras and repair crews to be too contrived to be believable. Are the shuttle bathrooms monitored by cameras? Why not just do it there like most Mile High Clubbers? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/6 "2008-02-19T04:36:31Z")
The shuttle doesn’t have bathrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/7 "2008-02-19T04:42:04Z")
[QUOTE=Askance] The shuttle doesn’t have bathrooms. [/QUOTE] Well, it has a [Waste Management Compartment with a door on it](http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/eclss/wcs.html): > [@](#): > > A door on the waste management compartment and two privacy curtains attached to the inside of the compartment door provide privacy for crew members. One curtain is attached to the top of the door and interfaces with the edge of the interdeck access, and the other is attached to the door and interfaces with the galley, if installed. The door also serves as an ingress platform during prelaunch (vertical) operations since the flight crew must enter the flight deck over the waste management compartment. The door has a friction hinge and must be open to gain access to the waste management compartment. Good enough for a quickie. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/8 "2008-02-19T07:53:40Z")
[QUOTE=mwbrooks] I doubt they work on Earth, either, for the purpose implied. [/QUOTE] tru’dat ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/9 "2008-02-19T17:00:09Z")
Has anyone considered the possibility of using one of those planes that go up real high and then freefall to simulate the weightlessness in space? I realize it only lasts for a matter of seconds, but, if you were sufficiently, er, prepared before entering free fall, it might be enough to get the gist. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/10 "2008-02-19T18:06:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Has anyone considered the possibility of using one of those planes that go up real high and then freefall to simulate the weightlessness in space? I realize it only lasts for a matter of seconds, but, if you were sufficiently, er, prepared before entering free fall, it might be enough to get the gist. Mike Jittlov, special effects wizard (who made **The Wizard of Space and Time** once made a short where he and a woman entered a “zero gravity chamber” . The Zero G scenes actually were shot on a “zero g” parabolic trajectory “Vomit Comet” plane. Jittlov explained at a screening of the films that there was a lot of Insteresting Footage from those takes that they really couldn’t use in his film. A few years ago there was a company that specialized in basically being a flying sex taxi, so that passengers could join the Mile High Club. I’m sure they considered (or at least talked about ) the idea of zero G sex. But I understand that those parabolic trajectories are REALLY hard on a plane. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/11 "2008-02-19T18:50:20Z")
I’m not sure that this fits with the OP, but: From the article > [@](#): > > On the question of whether deep-space sex was even possible, [my source at NASA] was agnostic. “There’s so much about microgravity we don’t know,” he said. “They have trouble maintaining plant growth . . .” First off, I have never been able to maintain so much as an Aloe Vera plant and, while I’m no Bill Clinton, I’m at least theoretically capable of joining the stardrive section with the saucer section. In other words, what the hell does maintaining plant growth have to do with knocking anti-grav boots? Maybe more to the point, why _wouldn’t_ people be able to have sex in space? Is there some reason a man wouldn’t be able to get an erection? Simple penetration?— one’s partner just keeps floating away? Is the real question one of conception? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/12 "2008-02-19T18:55:49Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] But I understand that those parabolic trajectories are REALLY hard on a plane. [/QUOTE] They needn’t be. Here’s a [link](http://www.incredible-adventures.com/zero-gravity-usa.html) to a site selling zero-G airplane rides in a B-727. You get something like 25 seconds of zero-G and then a 1.8-G pullout. That’s harder on a plane than straight and level flying, but well within what it’s built for. ---
**Author:** ![Saga](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saga/32/7281_2.png) [@Saga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saga)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/13 "2008-02-20T11:36:04Z")
Does cyber space count? You know, like on a chat room such as this perhaps… 😉 Or over email? That works too… What if you’ve had such great sex that you think you’re in orbit? Does that count? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/14 "2008-02-20T12:18:09Z")
> [@](#): > > That’s harder on a plane than straight and level flying, but well within what it’s built for. I wasn’t saying that they exceeded the plane’s capability, but at a lecture on such flights I was told that, after a series of loops, the “Vomit Comet” has to go in for heavy servicing. It’s not like flying from New York to Atlanta. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/15 "2008-02-20T20:56:38Z")
I think most of the problem is that after each thrust, you need to chase after your partner. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/16 "2008-02-20T21:20:36Z")
[QUOTE=Clothahump] I have a friend who works for NASA. He’s pretty highly placed. He says that if one were to be allowed to view the tapes of numerous flights, one would find that occasionally a camera would “malfunction” in a secluded area (or as secluded as one can get). [/QUOTE] What secluded areas? The space station is basically made up of large tubes, like the lab that was just added recently. A camera mounted at the end covers the entire inside of the tube within its view. That was pretty clear in recent photos of the inside of the space station. I can’t see where there are any secluded areas at all, except deliberately created ones like the ‘lavatory’. Or storage areas, and space is at such a premium that these are all as small as possible – hardly room for 2 active people. I agree that this is bullcrap. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/17 "2008-02-21T16:35:25Z")
[A few years back](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=231218) the Russian space agency announced a “honeymoon special” whereby, for a mere $40 million, they’d take you and your blushing bride to the space station and then, presumably, look the other way. Did anyone ever take them up on the offer? ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/18 "2008-02-21T17:33:54Z")
[QUOTE=BJMoose] Did anyone ever take them up on the offer? [/QUOTE] Nope. So far five space tourists have flown, one at a time. No couples have gone. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sex-in-space/438182/19 "2008-02-21T19:09:57Z")
[QUOTE=Madd Maxx] I think most of the problem is that after each thrust, you need to chase after your partner. [/QUOTE] I usually do anyway, unless she’s drunk or well-paid.