Astronauts Need to Start Having Sex in Space

Looks like if Lisa Marie Nowak had only waited a decade or two, she could’ve gotten down (or up, or however one does it in space) with fellow astronaut William Oefelein as part of the job.

Dr. Jason Kring, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University who studies sex for NASA (yep, you read that right), recently told the Telegraph that astronauts on extended missions, such as those planned for the exploration of Mars, might do well to emulate the practices of old-school polar explorers and enter into exclusive sexual relationships with colleagues while in space. (Um, we don’t exactly remember any women being on those old polar expeditions, so we’ll assume Kring is talking about hot gay sex, which surely would’ve helped on those cold, cold nights.)

“[T]he bottom line is that, like hunger and thirst, sex is a basic biological motive,” Kring told the Telegraph. “The potential round-trip mission to Mars could take three years.”

Among the potential kinks to work out would be the issues of privacy and possible motion sickness, not to mention zero gravity’s tendency to increase sweatiness and lower blood pressure, which could result in some clammy, limp couplings.

Funny, Roger Moore and (former UH prof) Lois Chiles didn’t seem to have any of those problems in Moonraker.

– Keith Plocek