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“We almost heard everything,” my friend and colleagues at the International Space Station’s planning scientist told me one day. She is explaining various mission control safety measures to monitor astronauts’ health, mental status and overall comfort. “Flight controllers are always concerned with safety.”
I replied, “You have to hear all kinds of stupid things: bur, fart, ic, diarrhea.” “They are humans after all.”
“We do.”
“Wow,” I leaned over. “Really? You're the perfect person who finally told me the truth.”
As long as I work at NASA’s science communications, people have been asking two questions about human space flight. First, they want to know what the bathroom is, which is easy to answer – Nasa people are open to shoes, broken bathrooms and diapers, also known as the maximum absorbent clothing. But after the poop conversation, people want to know the gender.
People have been interested in space sex since at least 1992, when the first and only astronaut couple joined 50Th Space Shuttle mission and cohabitation in space. After that, concerns about the erectile swelling of microgravity and the physics of hormone levels began to permeate, thus creating even more curiosity about the private lives of the astronauts. This is especially true for Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who recently returned to Earth after spending nearly 10 months at the International Space Station. They have no relationship and no evidence that they are intimate, but there is still speculation about zero-gravity passion. In fact, they have attracted so much interest that when I answered questions about space travel on Tiktok the other day, it had a high viral rate. More than 9,000 people have commented, many of whom are desperate to learn about sex in space.
I've always been fascinated by it, too. As a science writer specializing in Earth and climate science, I learned from NASA’s human research team about the effects of microgravity on the human body at both fun and weird. I found that astronauts' nails may fall off and their retina thickens.
But what about extracurricular activities? When the shuttle program is active, astronauts will spend 5 to 16 days in orbit. However, the typical stay on the International Space Station is about six months, and some stays up to 300 days or more. It's a long time, especially if you consider that more than 60% of adults have workplace romance. There must be some kind of chemical reaction there. Of the 676 people leaving Earth's gravity, are at least some eager to join the 250-mile-high club?
“Where is the rumor?” I whispered to my colleagues amid the noise of the cafeteria. “Astronauts have to hang up. If there is audio, you hear them having sex, right? moan?”
She paused, took a bite, and looked at her sandwich to avoid eye contact with me.
“Come on,” I patted the table. “Tell me. This is not alien Movie. ” I lowered my voice again.
She giggled, “I have no right to disclose this information.” Then she turned around and began to giggle like a madman. She said this without saying: Yes, sexual behavior happened. Yes, NASA can hear them. No, they will never admit it.
That always bothers me. Why was sex in space one of those nudge-nudge, wink-wink NASA legends that everyone knew about, but no one would disclose or admit?
But at NASA, withholding information is the norm. I witnessed the cover-up firsthand, which was when I spoke at a high-profile technical and media conference at South By Southwest in 2017. NASA HQ sent me a list of conversation points, including instructions for “Perspective of the topic of question, making reporters have relevant NASA positives”. A week later, when Donald Trump proposed to cut funding for three NASA Earth Science missions and NASA’s education office, the headquarters replied: “Don’t say anything or reply to any email. Celebrate funding for Mars and solar systems.”
Apart from being confidential, most people forget that the astronauts on the space station are international (Chris Hadfield, Canada, spread the virus with his version of David Bowie's Space Oddity). As of March 21, the expedition's 73 crew consisted of three NASA astronauts: Anne McClain, Jonny Kim and Nichole Ayers; three Russian astronauts: Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky; and a Japanese astronaut, Commander Takuya Onishi.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a time of reunion in space between people from different countries, but NASA's American astronauts tend to be bad. The Russians have vodka, the Italians have a specially designed espresso machine, but our astronauts are stuck with the orange flavored drink mixture, which tells you everything you need to know about the differences between space programs.
In fact, NASA's entire culture is luxurious except for some publicly publicly male astronauts. A space agency report recommends that astronauts who avoid sexual intercourse during a long journey may be all-female, as if NASA has not realized that obviously these women can have sex with each other. In addition, there is always masturbation. I'm sure someone can figure out how to manage it quietly if they want. Observe the prospect of low gravity ejaculation, whether it’s yourself or someone else, even after you, you have to chase the droplets with tissue.
As far as logistics is concerned, there is no missionary position in a microgravity environment. There are also concerns that in microscopic or low gravity, the person who pushes each other may surface. This means that sexy time in space will most likely need to happen in astronauts’ dormitories, which are private huts the size of telephone booths, with sleeping bags tied to the wall. Problems with or without a partner. That said, most of the space stations are covered in Velcro, which is useful for holding it against a wall. Astronauts can squeeze a small sleeping bag together, or tie their arms and legs to the side of the cabin, or tie them together. Sounds exciting to me.
Researchers have proposed research-based in space, but so far, the only case is a pornographic science fiction movie called Uranus experiment. If NASA is not too nervous,
I can provide more details. But as an insider, I now believe it is true: they do have sex on the space station. Just don't expect NASA to admit this.
