1. Physiological issues
    Gravity and microgravity  2Suit 

2. Planned attempts

3. In popular culture

4. See also

5. References
    Footnotes  General references 

6. External links

Physiological issues

Numerous physiological changes have been noted during spaceflight, many of which may affect sex and procreation. Such effects would be a result of factors including gravity changes, radiation, noise, vibration, isolation, disrupted circadian rhythms, stress, or a combination of these factors.^[8]

Gravity and microgravity

The primary issue to be considered in off-Earth reproduction is the lack of gravitational acceleration. Life on Earth, and thus the reproductive and ontogenetic processes of all extant species and their ancestors, evolved under the constant influence of the Earth's 1g gravitational field. It is imperative to study how space environment affects critical phases of mammalian reproduction and development as well as events surrounding fertilization, embryogenesis, pregnancy, birth, postnatal maturation, and parental care.^[9] Gravity affects all aspects of vertebrate development, including cell structure and function, organ system development, and even behavior. As gravity regulates mammalian gene expression, there are significant implications for successful procreation in an extraterrestrial environment.

Studies conducted on reproduction of mammals in microgravity include experiments with rats. Although the fetus developed properly once exposed to normal gravity, the rats that were raised in microgravity lacked the ability to right themselves.^[10] Another study examined mouse embryo fertilization in microgravity. Although both groups resulted in healthy mice once implanted at normal gravity, the authors noted that the fertilization rate was lower for the embryos fertilized in microgravity than for those in normal gravity.^[11] Currently no mice or rats have developed while in microgravity throughout the entire developmental cycle.^[12]

2Suit

The 2suit (alternately 2-Suit or twosuit) is a garment designed to facilitate low-effort sex in the weightless environments such as outer space, or on planets with low gravity.^[13] The flight garment, invented by American novelist Vanna Bonta,^[2] was one of the subjects of Sex in Space, a 2008 History Channel television documentary about the biological and emotional implications of human migration and reproduction beyond Earth.^[13][14][15] The 2suit sparked international discussions in news and political debates as a metaphor for human colonization of space.^[16][17]

Planned attempts

In February 2013, Dennis Tito's Inspiration Mars Foundation announced that they were going to send a two-person crew – a man and a woman – on a 501-day, free-return, flyby mission to Mars and back.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} Jane Poynter stressed the importance of the pre-existing stable emotional bond between the members of the couple. She cited her own experience as being a Biosphere 2 crew member together with her husband Taber MacCallum, who is the chief technology officer of Inspiration Mars.

In June 2015, Pornhub announced its plans to make the first pornographic film in space. It launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund the effort, dubbed Sexploration, with the goal of raising $3.4 million in 60 days. The campaign only received pledges for $236 086. If funded, the film would have been slated for a 2016 release, following six months of training for the two performers and six-person crew.^{[18][19][20][21]} Though it claimed to be in talks with multiple private spaceflight carriers, the company declined to name names "for fear that that would risk unnecessary fallout" from the carriers.^[18] A Space.com article about the campaign mentioned that in 2008, Virgin Galactic received and rejected a $1 million offer from an undisclosed party to shoot a sex film on board SpaceShipTwo.^[19]

Short of actual space, the adult entertainment production company Private Media Group has filmed a movie called The Uranus Experiment: Part Two where an actual zero-gravity intercourse scene was accomplished by flying an airplane to an altitude of {{nowrap|11,000 feet}} ({{nowrap|3350 meters}}) and then doing a steep dive. The filming process was particularly difficult from a technical and logistical standpoint. Budget constraints allowed for only one {{nowrap|20-second}} shot, featuring the actors Sylvia Saint and Nick Lang.^[22] Berth Milton, Jr, president and CEO of Private Media Group, says "You would not want to be afraid of flying, that's for sure!"^[23]

In popular culture

When Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins published his autobiography Carrying the Fire in 1974, a contemporary Time magazine quoted the following passage: "Imagine a spacecraft of the future, with a crew of a thousand ladies, off for Alpha Centauri, with 2,000 breasts bobbing beautifully and quivering delightfully in response to every weightless movement ... and I am the commander of the craft, and it is Saturday morning and time for inspection, naturally."^[25] Arthur C. Clarke in turn was quick to point out in a letter to the editor that he had beaten Collins to addressing the matter in the novel Rendezvous with Rama (1973).^[26]

On July 23, 2006, a Sex in Space panel was held at the Space Frontier Foundation's annual conference. Speakers were science journalist-author Laura Woodmansee, who presented her book Sex in Space;^[27] Jim Logan, the first graduate of a new aerospace medicine residency program to be hired by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston; and Vanna Bonta, an American poet, novelist, and actress who had recently flown in zero gravity and had agreed to an interview for Woodmansee's book.^[13] The speakers made presentations that explored "the biological, emotional, and ... physical issues that will confront people moving [off Earth] into the space environment."^[28] NBC science journalist Alan Boyle reported on the panel, opening a world discussion of a topic previously considered taboo.^[2]

"Sex in Space" was the title of an episode of the History Channel documentary television series The Universe in 2008. The globally distributed show was dubbed into foreign languages, opening worldwide discussion about what had previously been avoided as a taboo subject. Sex in space became a topic of discussion for the long-term survival of the human species, colonization of other planets, inspired songs, and humanized reasons for space exploration.^{[4][16][17][29][30][31][32][33][34]}

The idea of sex in space appears frequently in science fiction. Among films that include space-sex themes are Moonraker, Moving Violations, Supernova and Hypercube. In the novelization of Alien, Parker tells Brett about an episode of zero-G sex that went wrong. A more recent and perhaps more realistic description of the mechanics of low-gravity intercourse is presented in "Sex in Space: The Video", a short story contained in Susie Bright's The Best American Erotica 2004. The story uses cheating astronauts to describe techniques humans might use to copulate in space without special apparatus. The difficulties microgravity poses for human intimacy were also discussed in an anonymous fictional "NASA Document 12-571-3570" in 1989, where the use of an elastic belt and an inflatable tunnel were proposed as solutions to these problems. A mission patch and other documents were determined to be hoaxes.

See also

• Clinostat
• Effect of spaceflight on the human body
• Space advocacy
• Space colonization
• Space medicine
• Space tourism
• Mile high club
• Document 12-571-3570

References

Footnotes

General references

• {{cite journal |first=Robert |last=Freitas Jr. |url=http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/SexxxInSpace.htm |title=Sex in Space |journal=Sexology Today |number=48 |date=April 1983 |pages=58–64}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Levin|first1=RJ|title=Effects of space travel on sexuality and the human reproductive system |journal=Journal of the British Interplanetary Society|date=August 1989 |volume=42 |issue=7 |pages=378–82 |pmid=11540233}}

External links

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100908075709/http://outsideonline.com/outside/culture/200612/sex-in-space-1.html Adventures in Space, The Zero-G Spot], by Michael Behar; OUTSIDE Magazine, December 2006
• Outer-space sex carries complications By Alan Boyle, MSNBC July 24, 2006. Concept of "2suit" design of American writer Vanna Bonta.
• Space sex hoax rises again by James Oberg
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060415183927/http://space.com/news/space_pregnancy_001218_wg.html Pregnancy in Space Seems Possible]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/science/2000/feb/24/spaceexploration.internationalnews1 Astronauts test sex in space - but did the earth move?] The Guardian February 24, 2000
• Virgin Galactic rejects $1 million space porn by Peter B. de Selding, MSNBC October 2, 2008.
• Has anyone ever had sex in space? from The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams, 28 February 1997.
• Space Frontier Foundation's media archives for the SFF1484 panel [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLM6CVeRs08 "Sex in Space"] from the 2006 "New Space Return to the Moon Conference" featuring authors Laura Woodmansee, and Vanna Bonta with NASA physician Dr. John Logan.
• Inspiration Mars
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080710053017/http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/generalscience/russian_sex_studies_000316.html From Russia... with Love (propaganda-style interview with Russian "space procreation" specialist)]

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