Sex Banned Aboard International Space Station: NASA Commander

You can forget joining the 200-mile high club.

NASA commander Alan Poindexter told a reporter who asked about "the consequences if astronauts boldly went where probably no others have been" that sexual intercourse is not permitted aboard the International Space Station.

"We are professionals," Poindexter said.

"We treat each other with respect and we have a great working relationship. Personal relationships are not [...] an issue," he explained. "We don't have them and we won't."

The question about sexual relations in space came after an April mission that put a record four women in orbit--the most women in space ever. Three women aboard the Discovery joined another women and four men aboard the International Space Station.

Take a tour inside the International Space Station via the video below. Even if NASA's policy were not in place, the close quarters could make intimacy difficult...

WATCH:

Comments

[yabu]

04:41 PM on 06/30/2010

what a stupid issue. Just why would they have sex? Do they want kids from each other? Are they rabbits who can't control themselves? Or do they think with their genitalia? Sex is not necessary to live well let alone to research well...which is why we have the space station in the first place

[Derek Donnell]

04:11 PM on 06/30/2010

To ensure that books get read just ban them. I reckon sex in space has or will happen, since it has been banned!

[kburgoyne]

10:11 PM on 06/30/2010

This philosophy is definitely true for the general public. However the space station situation is unique and doesn't include the "general public". I don't think the astronauts consider it as "banned" but as "unprofessional", so they're really faced with something to rebel against. As space opens up to a broader range of people, it'll obviously occur.

[lendiggy]

01:56 AM on 06/30/2010

Are cylons off limits?

[amaboss52]

05:57 PM on 06/29/2010

Well that does it, no matter how many times they ask me, I'm never going to the ISS. The government takes the fun out of everything.

[ZappaVishnu]

03:37 PM on 06/29/2010

The ONE thing that could get the country interested in the space program again and they ban it.

[bigrob in austin]

03:34 PM on 06/29/2010

That's the only reason I went to Astronaut school.

[Ptama]

02:07 PM on 06/29/2010

No Need for VIAGRA in space. :)

[RonRutherford]

11:57 AM on 06/29/2010

Only in the shuttle's champagne room though, right?

www.therationalreport.com

[MalteseTiger]

10:54 AM on 06/29/2010

Ya ban sex in space and ya know what happens? You end up with a crazy astronaut in diapers driving cross country.

[vmlinux]

09:46 AM on 06/30/2010

:s/astronaut/astroNUT

There, fixed that for ya.

[lastpost]

08:53 AM on 06/29/2010

“Sex Banned Aboard International Space Station”
I know I didn’t object before. But now I feel I must point out, that this is a no-smoking compartment.

[Chuka McCoy]

08:53 AM on 06/29/2010

I feel like Chris Rock should be singing about this.

[RonRutherford]

11:58 AM on 06/29/2010

Hahaha, same reaction I had.

www.therationalreport.com

[OldPirate]

08:42 AM on 06/29/2010

no way I would believe that space sex hasn't happened

[bigrob in austin]

03:36 PM on 06/29/2010

Thje gov't is covering up the true story behind Gemini 11, the whole Armstrong/Aldrin/Collins Ménage à trois

[quovadiszero]

06:34 PM on 06/30/2010

exactly....young,healthy people not doing it space would make me doubt our entire future as a species.................................not to mention long interplanetary voyages.... woe unto us

[Donns]

08:14 AM on 06/29/2010

Is that idiot Poindexter still alive? The only thing he knows about sex is that he has been doing it to the country for years. I suppose he is in his element at NASA (Never A Straight Answer)

[jsarets]

10:29 AM on 06/29/2010

Not the same Poindexter.

[GonzoFactor]

08:11 AM on 06/29/2010

And how about the Space Shuttle? There have been married couples on board. There's also a major lack of privacy, though . . .

[RonRutherford]

11:58 AM on 06/29/2010

Maybe they're into that. :)

[kcwookie]

08:11 AM on 06/29/2010

NASA, like the US Navy probably has no sexual issues at all. Both organizations put men and women professionals in close quarters for extended periods of time.