Space Sex: The Need of Making Love in Space Is Something to Figure Out

More people are now reaching the cosmos than ever before owing to commercial spaceflight missions, not to mention future long-term Mars expeditions. It implies that more human life will take place in space.

There has been an argument that sexual needs are something to address if we plan to travel into space and become future space inhabitants. Sexuality is inherently human nature, and it is undoubtedly one of the components in space missions.

Sex in space counts

The prospect of long-term human space missions to the moon and Mars is one of the greatest missions that will continue to the future. Accordingly, extraordinary challenges are inevitable to this endeavor. The biggest challenge, however, is when the mission involves humans.

As stated in theconversation.com, “It’s one thing to land rovers on another planet or launch billionaires into orbit — it’s another to send humans to live in space for extended periods of time.” It takes a physically and psychologically feasible space journey which also includes human intimacy and sexual needs.

Space exploration and colonization, for example, has brought the concern of the limitation of human’s relationships which closely relate to intimacy. As human missions will only involve small crews in the foreseeable future, it means there will be fewer possibilities for intimacy.

It would be difficult for them to find a partner to get along with in terms of compatibility, “potentially increasing tension between crew members,” theconversation.com added.

NASA

Is it taboo in the space environment?

Although NASA has never confirmed any sexual activities ever happened during space missions, it might have already happened in the past. According to Deutsche Welle (DW), NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavor launched a married couple aboard in 1992. The NASA astronauts named Mark Lee and Jan Davis got married a year before their departure.

Paul Root Wolpe, a senior bioethicist at NASA, told the media that they needed to know more about sexuality in space if they’re serious about long-duration space flight, and sexuality is very possibly going to be a part of that.

However, a German astronaut Matthias Maurer when questioned about “sex drive in space,” dodged in an interview with DW. He said, “We haven’t talked about this, because it’s a professional environment.”

It is not similar to what humans experience on Earth

Despite everything, sex in space is basically a real thing. Nonetheless, it seems that there is a difference from the one that humans experience on Earth. As the space environment is hostile, it may affect how human’s desire for sexuality arises during space missions.

There is microgravity, weightlessness, and a significant radiation risk in their environment. These factors can have an impact on their hormonal alterations, such as decreased libido, which will reduce their sex drive as well.

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Because males made the vast majority of astronauts who have spent time in space, the hormone testing has mainly come from men. There are only a few female astronauts who went for birth control to avoid periods before they set foot in space. As a result, it is not easy to examine the hormonal changes of humans that may occur because of space flight.

Saralyn Mark, a former medical advisor of NASA said to DW, “When you’re going around the planet right now, every 90 minutes, your circadian rhythms are altered and that alters everything, including your sex hormones and probably your libido.”

A German astronaut Ulrich Walter in his book, A Hell Ride Through Time and Space, shared his experience regarding this topic during his space mission. He said that he did not feel to have libido during his 10-day trip in space. This may be due to the circadian clock of astronauts experiences a shift, too.

But according to Walter, the desire in sex of astronauts adapts after several weeks of being in space, so there is actually optimism.