http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_214.html
I was just reading a book by G. Harry Stine called “Halfway to Anywhere”. Near the end there is a discussion of sex in space. The wording implies that he knows the identity of astronauts that have had sex in space. The space counterpart of the Mile High club is called the Three Dolphin club, as it has been found that having a third person to push the back together as needed is a great help (and this is how dolphis do it).
And I always thought it was called a threesome or menage a trois. But seriously, I thought I heard on Jay Leno last night that a couple of astronauts did have sex in the space shuttle. But I thought the crew included at least 7 people and there’s no privacy in the shuttle. Anyone have the straight dope on that?
>And I always thought it was called a >threesome or menage a trois.
I wasn't saying the third person was an active participant. I was saying that he/she was a helper to nudge the two back together if needed.
>But I thought the crew included at least 7 >people and there’s no privacy in the >shuttle.
I think 7 is the max crew, it doesn't always fly with that many. I do agree there would be no privacy. However, remember that these are people that have trained together for months. They know each other quite well. For some individuals, that would not be a sufficient deterrant.
Back in college we saw a couple having sex at the edge of the apartment's parking lot. The lack of privacy obviously didn't deter them--they didn't even stop when I walked by. (I found them while taking out the garbage. They were between me and the dumpster, I didn't feel like hauling the garbage back home, nor like going way around to the next passageway.)On shuttle missions as currently constructed, stress probably overrides sex drive. And NASA doesn’t exactly send up 23-year-olds.
But SOMEDAY…
I was born with the Moon in Pisces!!
Leave me alone!!
SOB!!
I heard that one of the Russian’s female casmonauts conceived a child while in orbit. Presumably the child was born normally-does anybody know more about this?
Perhaps I’m not visualizing the problem correctly, but why would sex in space be that complex? Couldn’t you just hold on to the other person, say around the waist, at the shoulders, or, (depending on the other) breasts?
Is there some aspect of the physics involved on which people would care to enlighten me?
Kyberneticist, the problem is a lack of gravity. Without it, it’s very difficult to come up with a position that allows the couple to get motion but still stay connected. On Earth, gravity pulls you back together, so you only have to use muscles to push away and control the return. (Yes, I mean gravity pulls down, but in almost all positions one person is on top of another in some respect. Even in say doggie style, gravity is being used to assist in this manner. If nothing else, it is providing friction for your feet, knees, elbows, etc so you can react to push and pull.) You also would probably like to secure yourself to a wall so you don’t go floating around the cabin and bump your head on the wall, or trigger a button that blasts the thrusters and kicks you out of orbit and… oh, that’s not likely. But you still wouldn’t want to bump your head.
The thing circulating on the net and being used as a source for the story talks about different mechanisms that would assist in pulling the couple back together. The third “dolphin” being a no-tech solution.
How 'bout velcro. With some appropriately placed velcro strips (say knee-pads or butt-pads) couldn’t the participants anchor themselves down effectively enough to get the force needed to do the deed? All they’d need to do is attach themselves to a convenient bulkhead, deck, or ceiling and let it rip.
Inasmuch as we can’t even prove that sex in space has even been attempted, this is, at best, a WAG of the first order. So as long as we are just speculating out of our asses, I don’t see why the female couldn’t just hook her heels beind the male’s buttocks to hold it all together, as it were. I’m sure a way will be found; after all, it’s not rocket science.
TT
“It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.”
–James Thurber
ThufferinThuccotash, yes it is a WAG (though based on understanding the principles involved). You do give a good suggestion though - guy pushing away and girl pulling together. Sounds like a plan.
Um. I think if the guy pushed and the girl pulled the net effort would be going absolutely nowhere.
Hm. Perhaps if one of the two was strapped down, and the other pushed against them while holding onto them…
Sex in space by necessity kinky?
I don’t know what your sex life is like, but, in mine, we do tend to end up in basically the same place when we’re done! (It’s the back-and-forth in between that’s the most fun, of course.)
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
There is an earthly location where an appropriate experiment could be conducted: underwater.
Any SCUBA divers willing to make the attempt? It would, of course, be necessary to film the attempt so that others can study the results.
When all else fails, ask Cecil.
I remember an old Omni Magazine article on all of this back in the 70s or early 80s. It may even have been pre-shuttle - I seem to recall that they were talking about skylab missions but I don’t know if any women went up there… The article talked about the three dolphin club, about the maintenance staff at NASA’s swimming-pool-space-simulator trying experiments late at night, about people asking the astronauts about it all the time during speaking tours, about claims that it had been tried on several missions, about the possible use of velcro straps - the same stuff being circulated now. And, of course, NASA officially denied all knowledge… Does anyone else remember this?
Of course, I suppose I could get off my lazy butt and go look it up in the library…
Seems like if it was true they would have added some new information to the story in the last 20 years.
Well, unfortunately you’re floating in space in this example. You won’t even manage that middle back-and-forth action. 
Kyberneticist, try sequentially pushing and pulling.