Sex in Space: Certainly Possible, But Not Recommended

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http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/18/sex-and-space

Astronauts planning to have an out-of-this-world reproductive experience, take note! Experiments conducted on zebrafish suggest that space travel could harm your unborn child. (via The New Scientist)

Tamara Franz-Odenaal and her team of biologists at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Canada placed fertilized zebrafish eggs inside a bioreactor. It mimicked microgravity—the state of very low gravity found in interstellar space—by spinning ridiculously fast. They placed eggs inside the machine 10 to 14 hours after they had been fertilized to coincide with the development of bone and cartilage in the skull.

Once the eggs hatched, the team dyed the baby fish blue, and compared them to fish that hadn't spent time in simulated microgravity. The experimental group of zebra fishies had altered branchial arches—segments of cartilage that support the gills and correspond to portions of the human jaw. Deficits appeared later in the fishes' life cycles, too. Within several months, the bone at the base of their skulls buckled.

Taken with previous research, it doesn't bode well for sex in space. Other research has found that zebrafish in bioreactors have deficits in their vestibular systems, which control balance, causing fish to die prematurely. And after traveling aboard NASA's STS-131 mission in 2010, 16 mice demonstrated shrunken ovaries, leading one scientist to say their reproductive systems "had shut down."

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/18/sex ... z1BT42VwDj

In other news, condoms sales go up

I suppose it'll still be some until the first child is born in space and then we'll know...

After the first sex in space though...

You can bet good money that there's already been sex in space. USSR and US for decades have had men and women in space for extended periods of time.

They should start doing tests to see the effects of Martian level gravity on animal development

Perhaps the bioreactor had something to do with it? The ridiculous spinning? It said to mimic low gravity but it is not the same thing. Perhaps they should actually conduct the experiment in space to get rid of the variable.

potential problems with sex in spaceships are:

*control of the release of fluids, which if they got into electronics could cause dangerous short-circuits;
*lack of restraining gravity on motions which would require unsexy straps to keep the participants in place;
*lack of restraining gravity to restrict alacrity of movement which could cause soft-tissue injuries such as penile rupture, cervical shearing, et al.
just thought i'd mention it. sex in space doesn't sound too sexy to me.

How about sex underwater?

I would be willing to bet that scuba divers have done this many times.

Cleaning off the walls of a space ship sounds like a tacky job.

ruveyn

Well .... solutions

1.If you are born in space, you stay there. What are you going to use for, a vestibular system in 0 gravity? Or a strong skeleton?
2.Wolverine type of implants?
3.Artificial insemination?

These little problems will not going to stop us from colonizing the solar system.

body fluids [and splashed/aerosized lube] unrestrained by gravity, flying up into the eyes and nose and hair, cannot be pleasant. even with the FC2 female condom on the catcher and a normal condom on the pitcher, there would still be fluids escaping. both parties would have to put themselves in some kind of big semi-permeable shake-n-bake bag to keep all the various fluids corralled.