jerrys@mobby.umiacs.umd.edu (Jerry Sobieski) (06/05/91)
In article <1991May27.183119.26625@nntp-server.caltech.edu> dp@deimos.caltech.edu writes: >In article <19700@sdcc6.ucsd.edu>, jclark@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (John Clark) writes... >> >>Speaking of gravity, want to bet that when a married couple are sent >>in to space one of the 'experiements' that will be 'announced' is >>sex and related activities? > >Any space >"hanky-panky" will be strictly non-official (and difficult, since the >interior of a shuttle orbiter doesn't have too many private cubbyholes). >I doubt any such activities by humans will happen until more private >accomodations are available (small private rooms will be on the space >station). Difficult? How much space (:-) does a couple need to copulate? The front seat of a car is sufficient for a determined duo (empiricly determined). As to privacy, I don't think astronauts, who have been subjected to a plethora of injections, inspections, examinations, peeked at, poked at, etc. are going to be the "shy, demure" types - particularly if they can go down (pardon the pun) in history as the first Americans to get it in Space. These people (astronauts) are risk takers. I would be surprised if there wasn't already a 100 mile high club. Getting "caught", particularly if the couple are married (to each other:-), is not likely something that will worry them. >However, I have no doubt that some moronic reporter will ask >this very type of question during the couple's flight (somewhat embarassing >them, I imagine). I'd bet you that no human sexual experiments will be >"officially announced" by NASA (probably ever). I don't think its a moronic question any more than Chuck Robb's tryst with Miss Virginia, Gary Hart's monkey business, etc. Astronauts, alas, are public figures on expensive space missions. What they do up there is not entirely their own business. NASA may never announce/plan a mission in the near future to study copulation dynamics of the human species until it has been done informally and the stated intention won't raise further eyebrows. What's moronic is a nation that is too inhibited to allow such an announcement. (Sorry Deborah, this isn't a flame, please don't take it as such.) Jerry -- Domain: jerrys@umiacs.umd.edu Jerry Sobieski UUCP: uunet!mimsy!jerrys UMIACS - Univ. of Maryland Phone: (301)405-6735 College Park, Md 20742
mll@aio.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark Littlefield) (06/06/91)
In article <35232@mimsy.umd.edu>, jerrys@mobby.umiacs.umd.edu (Jerry Sobieski) writes: |> In article <1991May27.183119.26625@nntp-server.caltech.edu> dp@deimos.caltech.edu writes: |> >In article <19700@sdcc6.ucsd.edu>, jclark@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (John Clark) writes... |> >> |> >>Speaking of gravity, want to bet that when a married couple are sent |> >>in to space one of the 'experiements' that will be 'announced' is |> >>sex and related activities? |> > |> >Any space |> >"hanky-panky" will be strictly non-official (and difficult, since the |> >interior of a shuttle orbiter doesn't have too many private cubbyholes). |> >I doubt any such activities by humans will happen until more private |> >accomodations are available (small private rooms will be on the space |> >station). |> (stuff deleted...) |> These people (astronauts) are risk takers. I would be surprised if there |> wasn't already a 100 mile high club. Getting "caught", particularly if |> the couple are married (to each other:-), is not likely something that will |> worry them. (even more stuff deleted...) Just a couple of points. NASA has a strict policy of not flying married couples. This is not that NASA officials are prudish, it's simply to keep a family from being devastated in the event of a catastrophic accident. This rule has been waved for a mission scheduled for early next year, however. A couple who were scheduled and have been training for a mission for some time (couple of years), ran off and got married a few months ago. NASA had a problem in that it was ALMOST too late to rearrange and retrain the crew. It was finally decided that, since there are no children involved, the couple would be allowed to fly together. (sorry, cannot remember the couple's names or the mission, if anyone is SUPREMELY interested, I'll look it up). |> |> |> >However, I have no doubt that some moronic reporter will ask |> >this very type of question during the couple's flight (somewhat embarassing |> >them, I imagine). I'd bet you that no human sexual experiments will be |> >"officially announced" by NASA (probably ever). |> |> I don't think its a moronic question any more than Chuck Robb's tryst |> with Miss Virginia, Gary Hart's monkey business, etc. Astronauts, alas, |> are public figures on expensive space missions. What they do up there is |> not entirely their own business. NASA may never announce/plan a mission |> in the near future to study copulation dynamics of the human species until |> it has been done informally and the stated intention won't raise |> further eyebrows. |> |> What's moronic is a nation that is too inhibited to allow such an |> announcement. |> You bet your buns that nothing like this will be "officially" carried out by NASA. Space flight is an EXTREMELY costly activity and John Q. Public won't stand and watch his hard earned tax money go to make films of some couple "diddling" in micro-G. No, when it does happen (did happen???), it will be very quiet and private. -- ===================================================================== Mark L. Littlefield Automation and Robotics Division internet: mll@aio.jsc.nasa.gov Intelligent Systems Branch USsnail: Lockheed Engineering and Sciences 2400 Nasa Rd 1 / MS 19 Houston, TX 77058-3711 ====================================================================
jlhaferman@l_ecn12.icaen.uiowa.edu (Jeff Haferman) (06/06/91)
From article <1991Jun5.175954.24544@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>, by mll@aio.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark Littlefield): > [much discussion on sex in space deleted] > > You bet your buns that nothing like this will be "officially" carried > out by NASA. Space flight is an EXTREMELY costly activity and John Q. > Public won't stand and watch his hard earned tax money go to make > films of some couple "diddling" in micro-G. No, when it does happen > (did happen???), it will be very quiet and private. > > On a very recent Soviet (I think) space flight, wasn't there a female aboard from a country other than the Soviet Union? I know something like this happened recently, but I don't remember the countries involved. To the best of my recollection, there was 1 male astronaut, and 1 female (from a different country) and they spoke different languages. I thought I saw this on the news within the last couple of weeks. Was I hallucinating? Jeff Haferman internet: jlhaferman@icaen.uiowa.edu Department of Mechanical Engineering DoD 0186 BMWMOA 44469 AMA 460140 University of Iowa Iowa City IA 52242 '76 R90S
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (06/06/91)
In article <6353@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> jlhaferman@l_ecn12.icaen.uiowa.edu (Jeff Haferman) writes: >On a very recent Soviet (I think) space flight, wasn't there a female >aboard from a country other than the Soviet Union? ... Yes: Helen Sharman, the British cosmonaut who made a short visit to Mir. -- "We're thinking about upgrading from | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology SunOS 4.1.1 to SunOS 3.5." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
gen0006@husky1.stmarys.ca (06/07/91)
In article <1991Jun5.175954.24544@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>, mll@aio.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark Littlefield) writes: > Just a couple of points. NASA has a strict policy of not flying > married couples. This is not that NASA officials are prudish, it's > simply to keep a family from being devastated in the event of a > catastrophic accident. > > This rule has been waved for a mission scheduled for early next year, > however. A couple who were scheduled and have been training for a > mission for some time (couple of years), ran off and got married a few > months ago. NASA had a problem in that it was ALMOST too late to > rearrange and retrain the crew. It was finally decided that, since > there are no children involved, the couple would be allowed to fly > together. (sorry, cannot remember the couple's names or the mission, > if anyone is SUPREMELY interested, I'll look it up). If no children are involved then why shouldn't any couple be allowed to fly? I think that the choice not to fly as a couple should be made by the couple, although I can see how it could cause bad PR if there were an accident. -- "What is love? 'tis not hereafter; present mirth hath present laughter" - Shakespeare. Phil Laird | Internet: GEN0006@Husky1.stmarys.ca Dartmouth. | Bitnet: GEN0006@STMARYS Nova Scotia| DECnet: Husky1::GEN0006 Canada |
jclark@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (John Clark) (06/07/91)
In article <1991Jun5.175954.24544@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> mll@aio.jesnet.jsc.nasa.gov writes:
+
+You bet your buns that nothing like this will be "officially" carried
+out by NASA. Space flight is an EXTREMELY costly activity and John Q.
+Public won't stand and watch his hard earned tax money go to make
+films of some couple "diddling" in micro-G. No, when it does happen
Yeh, J.Q.P. would rather read about jellyfish behavior in reduced
gravity envornments. If everything worked the same way in space as
on earth there would be no point in doing any experiementation in
spece. The point is that methods which are taken for granted on the
surface do not work in many cases. The 'underwater' simulation fails
in several ways. One is the required breathing equipment. Also, humans
are buoyant at a different point than metallic objects and must be
weighted to achieve neutral buoyancy, where as metalic object sink
to a much deeper level before neutral buoyancy is reached. This would
change characteristics of various methods for sexual congress
(especially for those who use metallic objects during sex).
Although my origial posting was in the humorous line, it seems to
have picked out a few individuals who consider sex a 'private, for
the bedroom' activity with any 'scientific' investigation left to
the last of a very long list of other more important scientific
endevors.
--
John Clark
jclark@ucsd.edumll@aio.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark Littlefield) (06/14/91)
In article <20208@sdcc6.ucsd.edu>, jclark@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (John Clark) writes: |> In article <1991Jun5.175954.24544@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> mll@aio.jesnet.jsc.nasa.gov writes: |> + |> +You bet your buns that nothing like this will be "officially" carried |> +out by NASA. Space flight is an EXTREMELY costly activity and John Q. |> +Public won't stand and watch his hard earned tax money go to make |> +films of some couple "diddling" in micro-G. No, when it does happen |> (Stuff deleted....) |> |> Although my origial posting was in the humorous line, it seems to |> have picked out a few individuals who consider sex a 'private, for |> the bedroom' activity with any 'scientific' investigation left to |> the last of a very long list of other more important scientific |> endevors. |> -- |> |> John Clark |> jclark@ucsd.edu It's not that NASA (or I for that matter) have any problems with sex in space as a research topic. There are a few considerations which must be taken into account before it can be pursued: 1. Space flight is costly. Therfore experiments must be selected to maximize the scientific return for the dollar. If an experiment does not (in the life science area at least) return large amounts of science to support long-term manned space operations, it gets pushed back on the cue. And believe me, there are a LOT of experiments that wait YEARS for the chance to fly. 2. NASA is a (VERY!!!) public organization, which consumes a large amount of tax money. Every year, NASA, like any other publicly funded research organization, must beg money from congress. If a researcher in some university wants federal dollars to do research on human sexual response, then it's not much of a problem seeing that the amount of money is relativly small. But if NASA asked for money to do the same research on orbit, Congress would go ballistic. They would never risk reelection over such an issue. Like I said in my previous posting, when mixed male/female crews are posted for long periods of time, with relative privacy afforded (like on Space Station Freedom), then sexual experimentation will occur. It will be a "private" investigation, however, for the reasons I said above. -- ===================================================================== Mark L. Littlefield Automation and Robotics Division internet: mll@aio.jsc.nasa.gov Intelligent Systems Branch USsnail: Lockheed Engineering and Sciences 2400 Nasa Rd 1 / MS 19 Houston, TX 77058-3711 ====================================================================