Astro-naughtiness could cause problems in space 


"With the prospect of a very long-term mission, it's hard to ignore the question of sexuality," says Lawrence Palinkas, a medical anthropologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and an author of the report published by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS). 

Astro-naughtiness could cause problems in space 
• 29 October 2005 
• From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
 
Out-of-this-world sex could jeopardise missions to the moon and Mars, according to a top-level panel of scientists. It recommends that NASA should get to grips with the problem by studying sex and romantic entanglements. 
"With the prospect of a very long-term mission, it's hard to ignore the question of sexuality," says Lawrence Palinkas, a medical anthropologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and an author of the report published by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS). 
During an eight-month space-station simulation on Earth in 2000, a Russian man twice tried to kiss a female Canadian researcher, prompting the installation of locks between the Russian and international crews' compartments. 
"People are very primitive in their emotions around partnering and sex," says Carol Rinkleib Ellison, a psychologist specialising in sexuality and intimacy based in Oakland, California, who was not part of the NAS panel. 
But sex may also benefit missions by creating a sense of stability or normalisation, Palinkas says. And with a round trip to Mars likely to take at least 30 months, sex or masturbation could help alleviate boredom and anxiety on the long journeys, Ellison says. 
NASA should consider the practical issues of out-of-this world sex, says Ellison. "How do you have sex in weightlessness? And there's a lack of privacy - often they're monitoring pulse rate and temperature. I don't know how that would be handled."
From issue 2523 of New Scientist magazine, 29 October 2005, page 4 

Posted: Sun - October 30, 2005 at 08:34 PM          

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