Fun - Just Doing it

In February 2007 Lisa Nowak who was having an affair with Bill Oefelein became so desperate that she drove 950 miles non-stop to confront Colleen Shipman, her rival for Oefelein’s affection. American authorities later said she was disguised and armed and would have caused serious bodily injury or death to Shipman had they not arrived on time. Another little love affair gone horribly wrong? Yes, but the difference is Lisa and Bill were both astronauts who had flown the shuttle and done Space Station stints. Separately, sure, but what if they had been together on some mission? Would they have made love in space too? Until the Nowak affair NASA had no occasion to discuss or publicly defend its policy concerning sex and space travel. The reason was simple: they didn’t have any. Apparently, the topic just doesn’t surface during training and is never really talked about. Because according to Richard Williams, NASA’s chief health and medical officer, it’s a sensitive and delicate issue, which is “pretty much left up to individual judgment as to what’s prudent and proper”. While such an attitude may have been appropriate for short duration space flights and even comparatively lengthier stays at the International Space Station, the American space agency is — even as we speak — gearing up for some very serious deep space explorations. These include seven to nine-month-long one-way trips to Mars, setting up bases on the moon soon and, ultimately, construction of a permanent colony on the Red Planet. Even if we’re supposed to believe that astronauts can and will remain celibate for periods ranging up to a couple of years, how does a colony survive without a next generation? If that’s thinking way too much into the future, consider what’s happening in space tourism right now. Taking up high-paying members of the public for short sub-orbital flights is already a reality. The Russian Space Agency may be charging $20 million a pop, but it’s booked through 2009. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic company, along with about half a dozen other start-ups, are about to follow suit using privately developed space planes. Space ports have been planned and are being developed in several locations in the United States, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates. Space tourism is about to take off. Meaning, how long before we have an orbiting space hotel? How long before honeymooners land up there? How long are they going to remain fully clothed? Sex in space with a panoramic view of the Earth below is undoubtedly the killer app that will transform space tourism into a mega business but the results could be disastrous. Not because virtually nothing is known about couples being able to perform in zero gravity without drifting apart or carom-ing off the walls (trust them though, they’ll ultimately find a way), but because no human has been conceived in space till now and it may be dangerous for both mother and child. Scientists still don’t know exactly what kind of impact weightlessness would have on the genetic structure of an embryo although they think the nervous and vestibular, or balance, systems may fail to develop properly in individuals growing up in such an environment. Actually even the possibility of zero-G pregnancy is uncertain. Will sperm motility be affected? Will a fertilised embryo attach properly to the uterus? Will high radiation levels cause mutated cell division? Will re-entry acceleration harm the foetus? About the only thing they do know is that bones, muscles (including the heart) and brain tissue will simply not develop properly without Earth’s gravity. The problem is, none of this is going to stop some intrepid people from doing what no one has done before and having a little hoopla in the heavens. Official coyness may have trumped technology but authorities in the future are going to be extremely worried when they see the silly grins on the faces of returning astronauts or tourists