At 10:23 am on September 12, 1992, the American space shuttle Endeavor slowly lifted off amidst a roar. When the NASA personnel in the
control room saw this scene, they were happy, excited and a little angry, because among the astronauts on board the spaceflight flight, there was a couple-Mark Ree and Jane Davis.
Knowing that NASA stipulates that couples cannot launch into space at the same time to perform space missions, the two quietly concealed the fact that they were married. They did not reveal the matter until the eve of the launch.
As soon as the news came out, the "Endeavour" and the couple in the cabin attracted the attention of people all over the world.
When the two returned and landed, reporters asked the pilots many questions about space exploration and travel.
But what is different from others is that when the reporter asked Mark and Jane, they specifically asked about their honeymoon in space.
Finally, a reporter asked: "Did you have any intimate behavior in space?"
This issue is also a matter of concern to thousands of people on earth, but unfortunately, the two have always denied it. manner.
So did the two have any intimate behavior in space? Are there conditions for intimacy in space again?
The couple made history and launched into space together. On July 31, 1987, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed a contract to build the "Endeavor" space shuttle .
html Forty-four years later, Endeavor was assembled and transported to the Kennedy Space Center, where it will carry out the STS-47 space mission the following year.
At the same time, NASA's selection of space pilots for this mission has come to an end.
Seven astronauts, Brown, Apted, Gibson, Jemison, Maury, Jane Davis, and Mark Lee, were successfully selected.
For such a selection result, the selected people were undoubtedly excited, but Mark and Jane were a little melancholy and worried while they were happy, because they had just received their marriage certificate not long ago.
The two were both outstanding aerospace pilots in NASA and met during a routine training mission.
After some contact, Mark was quickly attracted by the enthusiastic, generous and beautiful Jane. He didn't care about Jane's past divorce.
Soon after, the two confirmed their relationship. Because he was worried about affecting his work, Mark proposed to keep their relationship secret for the time being.
Until they secretly obtained their marriage certificate, their colleagues at NASA did not know their true relationship.
However, after being selected to fly on the Endeavor space mission in 1992, the two were in a dilemma. NASA explicitly stipulated that the husband and wife could not go on space missions at the same time.
In fact, this is out of humanitarian concern, because there have been many cases of failed ascension in the history of space flight.
The scene of the "Challenger" space shuttle explosion in 1986 is still vivid in my mind. All the astronauts involved in the mission survived the accident.
If the couple is allowed to ascend to heaven together, once an accident occurs, it will have a huge impact on the family.
The couple cannot ascend to heaven at the same time. This has almost become an unwritten rule among space agencies around the world.
After the " Challenger " crash, NASA directly issued explicit regulations prohibiting couples from ascending to space at the same time to perform space missions.
But for every astronaut, entering space is their lifelong dream.
Especially for Jane, if this trip goes well, she will be the first American female astronaut to fly into space. This is a great honor and a dream that she has been striving for for half her life. She does not want to give up just now.
Mark also has a very deep obsession with this and does not want to miss such a great opportunity in vain.
After consultation, the two finally decided to secretly hide their relationship and wait until before the flight or after returning from space to confess to the organization.
Moreover, there is still more than a year before space flight. It is not yet known whether they can pass the various tests and preparations.
In this way, Mark and Jane still maintained a secret relationship as a couple as before.
Time slowly came to September 1992. Fortunately, the couple had passed space flight training and had a clear understanding of the next mission to be performed in space.
is about to take off, and no one knows their relationship. At this time, Mark and Jane are once again entangled.
From the perspective of professional ethics, they should admit their mistakes to their superiors and be honest about the fact that they are married.
From a personal perspective, they are worried that they will be expelled from the flight crew for violating regulations.
After careful consideration, their rationality finally prevailed and they reported the concealed relationship between the couple to their superiors.
NASA is very angry about this. When working in such departments that are related to major national security and interests, it is taboo to violate regulations and conceal the truth.
NASA immediately held an emergency meeting, and there were only two ways to deal with the two:
Let them continue to perform the flight mission, and punish their behavior after returning, or let substitute astronauts replace them now.
However, the space shuttle is about to be launched, and Mark and Jane will play an extremely important role in the next space mission.
Whether the replacement astronaut can successfully complete the mission like the two is unknown.
In the end, out of consideration for the overall situation, NASA decided to maintain the original flight list, and Mark and Jane were also on the list.
Does intimacy in space actually happen?
On the morning of September 12, "Endeavor" successfully lifted off and returned to Earth safely after flying in space for 7 days and 22 hours.
The seven astronauts became national heroes, especially Jane, who was the first American female astronaut to fly into space.
After returning to Earth, the astronauts accepted interviews from reporters from major media.
As soon as the press conference began, the reporters focused all their attention on Mark and Jane.
Because the world has learned about their relationship, the two are the first couple in the world to enter space together.
When reporters ask other astronauts questions, most of them ask professional questions. However, when it comes to Mark and Jane, they mostly ask, "How was your honeymoon experience in space?"
"As the first couple to go into space, What do you think?" and other questions. Some reporters even boldly asked: "Have you ever engaged in intimate behavior in space?"
After hearing this, everyone cast curious glances. In the eyes of everyone, the two shook their heads and said that they had never done anything beyond the relationship between colleagues during space operations.
This was not the first time they were asked this question. In future public occasions, the couple was asked this slightly embarrassing question countless times. Their answer was denial every time until they divorced in 1999.
However, the outside world is still skeptical about this. After all, the two were in the honeymoon period of their marriage at the time, and it was a rare couple to ascend into space together.
Later, even NASA stood up to clarify the facts for the two, and the official listed several reasons for refutation.
Considering external conditions, although the space capsule is large, the astronauts’ privacy space is not large.
In addition to the toilet, their sleeping cabin is there, and both the toilet and the sleeping cabin can only be used by one person at a time.
There are cameras all over the space capsule, and each astronaut's wireless communication must be kept open except under special circumstances.
It can be said that everything the astronauts say and do will be seen by their colleagues and NASA on Earth. In this case, how can Mark and Jane have the conditions for intimate behavior?
Furthermore, the space voyage only lasts less than eight days, and every minute is precious. They must do their best to complete the pre-specified tasks in these few days.
Apart from their intersection at work, Mark and Jane have almost no other time to spend together in private.
Considering the internal conditions, first of all, people will be in a state of weightlessness after arriving in space, and the secretion of hormones will be restricted, making it difficult for two people to feel love on a physiological level.
In a vacuum environment, human body movements cannot be moved as freely as on earth, which is a big test for intimate behavior.
In a state of weightlessness, the flow direction of human blood is difficult to control by the human body, so it is difficult for human muscles to be controlled as freely as on earth, which further increases the difficulty of performing intimate behaviors.
Moreover, space is full of radiation, and subatomic particles are running at high speed. These high-energy particles will impact DNA molecules, thereby changing human genetic factors , further causing serious gene mutations and cancer.
Astronauts know this very well, so considering their own safety and the health of the next generation, Mark and Jane will not engage in intimate behavior in space.
Even if intimate behavior can be achieved and fertilized eggs can develop normally in the human body, the bones and muscles of the human body will undergo changes under weightless conditions.
The development of the fertilized egg and fetus requires the support of the bones of the pregnant woman's body, and the organism is completely suspended in space.
Even after returning to Earth, it will take a while for the astronauts to slowly adapt to the Earth's gravity.
If the astronaut is pregnant at this time, there is no way to support the pregnant woman to complete the development of the fertilized egg.
Considering their identities, Mark and Jane are husband and wife, but they are also astronauts.
On such an important occasion, they certainly understand the priorities of things and will not do anything that would bring variables or potential risks to the mission.
This is NASA’s refutation of the outside world. These statements have been recognized by many people.
In fact, as long as you have some common sense or some understanding of space research, you can judge the authenticity of this matter at a glance.
Because various countries have already put research on space reproduction on their agenda, but there has still been no breakthrough progress so far.
Space reproduction is the general trend
On September 12, 2021, Maria Santaguida, a psychologist at Concordia University in the United States, and a group of like-minded researchers raised an interesting topic to NASA.
If we want interstellar travel, or become an interstellar species, love and sex need to happen in space, but it's clear space organizations are still not ready.
With the continuous development of human spaceflight technology in recent years, astronauts can live in space for longer and longer periods of time. For example, several astronauts on China's Shenzhou 13th mission stayed in space for half a year.
In the future, astronauts may even live in space for many years, and physiological needs are indeed a problem that needs to be solved.
Mars immigration was proposed many years ago. Flying from the earth to Mars , even the most advanced space shuttle in the world, still needs to fly for 2 years. Physiological needs are also a problem that must be solved.
Nowadays, the view that "the future of mankind does not lie on the earth" has been generally recognized.
Then if the destiny of mankind is closely related to space, immigrating to outer space and other planets is an imperative thing.
Next, it is particularly important to understand whether the basic physiological functions of human beings in space can work as well as on earth.
The reproduction problem is an important physiological issue that needs to be faced during long-distance space travel.
However, research on space reproduction worldwide is relatively lagging behind and progress is slow.
So far, humans have allowed five animals to mate in space through experiments, and successfully experienced the development process from fertilized eggs to embryos, including jellyfish, fruit flies, frogs, birds, and snails.
However, there is still no breakthrough in the germ cell experiments of large animals and humans. In fact, the main problems facing space reproduction are radiation and weightlessness.
In the absence of the earth's magnetic field and the protection of the atmosphere, DNA molecules are easily impacted by cosmic particles and mutate.
At the same time, whether it is humans or various animals, the reproductive organs are the most vulnerable to radiation and damage.
A university professor named Joseph in the United States said: "If a person's organs were ranked in terms of their sensitivity to radiation, the reproductive organs would undoubtedly be ranked first."
As far as the current human space navigation technology is concerned, if It is a long-distance interstellar journey such as flying to Mars. During the process, it is impossible to avoid being exposed to cosmic radiation. The impact of weightlessness on reproduction is even greater.
It has been clear through experiments by biologists that human muscles will shrink to varying degrees in a vacuum environment. This has been confirmed by astronauts who have measured the body in space.
Some astronauts even experience muscle atrophy, making it impossible to support their bodies.
The decline of body function will further lead to the decline of human body progesterone , and luteal controls the switch of hormones. It also plays an important role in helping placenta grow and release pregnancy hormones.
In 2010, some small white mice were sent into space, and the physiological changes they showed were consistent with human predictions.
In fact, as early as 1977, Russian scientists conducted similar experiments.
They launched a satellite into space, which carried more than a dozen pairs of mice. The 18-day journey gave them ample time to mate.
Unfortunately, in the end, no white mice successfully completed reproduction, and only two female white mice even completed conception, but eventually miscarried.
After returning to Earth, most of the mice still have no desire to reproduce until they adapt to the Earth's gravity again..
It can be seen that weightlessness will seriously affect the production of biological hormones, which will further affect the occurrence of reproduction. Whether data like
is applicable to humans is still inconclusive. Only 11% of astronauts in the world are women.
The average age of these astronauts is 37 years old, and most of them have completed childbirth at this age.
Therefore, during space missions, it is difficult for scientists to distinguish whether weightlessness affects their hormone levels, or whether age and childbirth affect them.
In addition, sperm production and activity will also be affected in weightlessness, which further increases the difficulty of space reproduction.
Nowadays, more and more countries have begun to pay attention to the issue of space reproduction, because with the advancement of aerospace technology, space reproduction is a general trend and a physiological problem that must be solved.
NASA, as one of the most advanced and developed space agencies in the world, has now begun to track the physical health of astronauts in an attempt to find a breakthrough in solving the problem of space reproduction.
believes that this problem can be properly solved in the future.
