Ch 12: The Three Dolphin Club

A chapter that I found unique and intriguing was the chapter about the ability and research of intercourse in space. Roach brought up a lot of things that never would have crossed my mind (not that having zero-gravity sex has ever crossed my mind).  I like this chapter because I actually laughed out loud throughout it, I really enjoy the author's sarcastic and joking way of writing.  I have taken a Marine Biology course and learned about how porpoises have intercourse and it never crossed my mind that astronauts would have the same issue.  

I also thought is was amusing how so many under the radar experiments have been conducted testing whether sex in space is possible and how.  I was very amused by the middle paragraph on page 235 that describes how "an astronaut couple supposedly tried out ten positions"in an experiment and that later on two authors presented the experiment "as fact in their books" (Roach 235).  She then continues on to say "A quick visit to the NASA Web site would have revealed that shuttle mission STS-75 flew in 1996" and "had an all male crew"(Roach 235).  She also looked into other possible 'experiments' of zero-gravity intercourse including a pornography trilogy.  

I thought it was very interesting how they brought up the idea that if sex was possible in space, what would happen if it led to conception, or could it lead to conception in the first place.  They apparently sent up rats and found that "none of the females came back to Earth pregnant, though there were signs that conception had taken place" (Roach 244). Who knew gravity would be so important??  It discussed how in space contractions wouldn't be as powerful, which can actually be bad for the baby! 

At first, I thought to myself, why are they wasting their time on these things when NASA should be worried about many other more important issues. But after reading the chapter in its entirety, it does have some practical applications.  What if in the future there are so many people on the Earth some have to live in space?! Then knowing this sorts of things is very necessary. And no I am not a crazy theorist that thinks we will all have to live in space someday, but its something to think about!  This entire chapter, well really the whole book brought up a lot of points that never crossed my mind!