Sex in space: is it possible?
Our journey to distant stars is questionable. We don't yet have such an engine that would accelerate the spacecraft enough to make the trip fast. Hence, the path to the nearest stellar systems can take centuries. And this raises an interesting question: is sex under conditions of weightlessness possible? Let find this out.
Has anyone had sex in space?
The first spouses in space were Andrian Nikolayev and Valentina Tereshkova. After the flight, they've been under constant medical control for a long time. In 1964, they had a daughter. In 1988, astronaut Svetlana Savitskaya, who has been in Earth's orbit twice, had a son. Elena Kondakova, the third Russian woman astronaut, has also been in space twice. She then gave birth to a daughter. But they all didn't get pregnant in space. However, the fact that children were born healthy is important itself. Therefore, weightlessness doesn't influence fertility. But what will happen if you have sex in orbit? That's a very interesting question. But there is no reliable information on it.
Problems of sex in space
So, what is weightlessness? In general, it's a condition, in which the body doesn't weigh anything and can move freely in any direction. What happens during sex under conditions of weightlessness? Well, the man and the woman are supposed to make certain movements, right? But in space, both sex partners will simply fly away from each other because the slightest push is enough to make an object move in zero gravity. "Well, they can hold hands," you may say. But this also won't help much, as they will be flying all over the spacecraft like a pinball. But the worst part is that drops of sweat will start accumulating on their bodies and detaching from the skin. They can accidentally get into the lungs with the air flow and cause asphyxia.
Another serious danger is connected with the heart. During sex, partners' pulse gets faster, and blood pressure rises. As a result, the heart can stop from overloading during orgasm because that's how things work in zero gravity. It's possible that the sharp and significant tension of the muscles during orgasm can result in the rupture of blood vessels. Better watch out of the hot brides so you don't ruin your space experience!
There was a rumor that US astronauts allegedly organized a sexual intercourse on the ISS. That's hardly possible. Why? Because NASA had a great opportunity to carry out such an experiment long ago. In 1992, astronauts Jenna Davis and Mark Lee became husband and wife right before getting into space. But instead of a honeymoon, they took a rocket ride into orbit. And what NASA did was setting up newlyweds' working schedule with a 12-hour difference between shifts, so that the spouses couldn't sleep at the same time. In other words, NASA intentionally prevented them from having sex in space. So, do astronauts have sex in space? Absolutely not!
Is sex in space possible?
In theory, sex in orbit is possible in a specially designed, sealed box, equipped with oxygen masks and straps to fix both partners. And while there are no such boxes on ISS, sex in space is impossible now (don't forget about the high risk of death from overloading the body).
Is it possible to conceive a child in space?
Getting pregnant in space is impossible either. During one of the experiments, Russian astronauts froze sperm and sent it for research back to Earth. It turned out that all the spermatozoa lost their mobility due to increased radiation on the ISS. Several women were fertilized with "space" sperm artificially, but none of them got pregnant. It turns out that the case of raising new generations during interstellar flights can be closed once and for all. It seems that we have to look for other ways to reach other worlds.
