{"id":17009,"date":"2026-06-15T01:13:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T17:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/having-sex-in-space-would-be-tricky-but-having-kids-in-space-is-riskier\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T01:13:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T17:13:31","slug":"having-sex-in-space-would-be-tricky-but-having-kids-in-space-is-riskier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/having-sex-in-space-would-be-tricky-but-having-kids-in-space-is-riskier\/","title":{"rendered":"Having sex in space would be tricky, but having kids in space is riskier"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1260\" height=\"709\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/dreamstime_l_309694213-1260x709.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-933487\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/dreamstime_l_309694213-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/dreamstime_l_309694213-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/dreamstime_l_309694213-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/dreamstime_l_309694213-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">Researchers say the mechanics of having sex in space would be easier to manage than the biology of pregnancy and fetal development in a reduced-gravity environment. (Credit: ID 309694213 \u00a9 Anna Ivanova | Dreamstime.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sex in space is the perfect subject for levity and double entendres, and the panelists at a Deep Tech Week session held at Thinkspace Seattle leaned into the humor early on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can all imagine Newton\u2019s Third Law dictates that, unrestrained, you get one thrust in and then you\u2019re at the other end of the spacecraft,\u201d said Shawna Pandya, chief of space medicine at the Florida-based Advanced SpaceLife Research Institute, or ASRI. Early pioneers in the field even designed a spacesuit customized for zero-G intimacy that was equipped with flaps and harnesses in strategic places \u2014 giving new meaning to the term \u201clove handles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the researchers at Friday\u2019s session didn\u2019t dwell on the mechanics of in-space intercourse. \u201cI think the sex part will be the easiest part, operationally,\u201d said James Logan, former chief of medical operations at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center. \u201cThe problems are what comes after that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For that reason, the panelists left the levity behind and focused on the serious subject of pregnancy and fetal development in the challenging environment beyond our home planet.<\/p>\n<p>  Related<br \/>\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/250213-spacelove.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;display:block;border-radius:4px;\"><br \/>\n  How science weighs the pluses and minuses of sex in space<\/p>\n<style>\n  @media (max-width: 600px) {\n    aside.callout { float:none !important; max-width:100% !important; margin-left:0 !important; margin-right:0 !important; }\n    aside.callout .callout-img { display:none !important; }\n  }\n<\/style>\n<p>Last year, researchers found evidence that exposure to space radiation during pregnancy would carry a \u201csignificantly higher\u201d risk of producing congenital birth defects. More recently, a different set of researchers reported that zero-G conditions impaired sperm navigation, egg fertilization and embryo development in mammals.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Layendecker, ASRI\u2019s founder and director, said the health effects of exposure to the space environment might not show up until more than a generation later. One study, which hasn\u2019t yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, focused on female mice that were flown on the International Space Station, and then brought back to be mated with males on Earth. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first generation seemed not to have many differences, but when the grandchildren mice were born \u2014 and this was a really big smoking gun \u2014 the grandchildren mice actually had a significantly altered phenotype,\u201d Layendecker said. \u201cThey had differences in mass. They had differences in behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All this could be a deal-killer for the kinds of space settlements seen in science-fiction shows like \u201cFor All Mankind\u201d \u2014 and it casts serious doubt on SpaceX trillionaire Elon Musk\u2019s dream of sending a million settlers to Mars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBased on my knowledge and experience, I don\u2019t think one-third G (Mars-level gravity) is going to be enough, and if one-third G isn\u2019t enough, one-sixth G (moon-level gravity) isn\u2019t going to cut it, either,\u201d Logan said. \u201cSo, it may be eventually that the moon and Mars will be resource depots. They will remain outposts. I don\u2019t really believe that men, women and children of multiple generations are going to be living on the moon the way it is envisioned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Layendecker said that raises an \u201cexistential question\u201d about humanity\u2019s future beyond its home planet. And maybe about humanity\u2019s future, period. \u201cIf you are not able to make yourselves multiplanetary, then mathematically, over the course of time, single-planet species don\u2019t survive,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is only so much time in Earth\u2019s geological history before some cataclysmic event happens that eventually puts you out of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1260\" height=\"945\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HomoStellaris-1260x945.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-933530\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HomoStellaris-1260x945.jpeg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HomoStellaris-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HomoStellaris-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HomoStellaris-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">Former NASA flight surgeon James Logan speaks at a Deep Tech Week presentation in Seattle titled \u201cFrom Homo Sapiens to Homo Stellaris.\u201d The panelists included, from left, moderator Sierra Clouse; Alex Layendecker, director of the Advanced SpaceLife Research Institute; Shawna Pandya, ASRI\u2019s chief of medical research; Logan; and Morgan Kainu, chief of staff and research fellow at ASRI. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The proponents of off-Earth settlement, led by Musk, regard settlements on Mars, the moon and other celestial bodies as a Plan B guaranteeing the human species\u2019 survival. But in order for that plan to work, humans have to be able to reproduce in those settlements. \u201cLet\u2019s theorize here,\u201d Layendecker said. \u201cWe have a settlement on Mars \u2026 and Earth is completely wiped out, so no humans here. The planet is uninhabitable. If the people on Mars cannot have children and cannot reproduce over time, they\u2019re going to die out one generation deep.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pandya said genetic engineering could provide a way out. She pointed to an article on the subject published by MIT Technology Review. \u201cThey make the argument that it\u2019s not an ethical question to genetically enhance your astronauts,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually more unethical to send them into this high-radiation, dangerous environment if you\u2019re not protecting them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Logan said radiation protection measures and gravity countermeasures should be considered as essential for future space settlers as air, water and food. So far, however, those issues have gotten relatively little attention.<\/p>\n<p>ASRI is trying to do something about that: The institute has drawn up a 30-year roadmap for space research focusing on reproductive biology \u2014 an initiative known as Sexual Health and Reproductive Planning, or SHARP. It\u2019s also looking to expand its presence to Europe, where the regulatory environment is friendlier to reproductive science, and perhaps also to Seattle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are one organization that I hope blossoms into multiple organizations around the world,\u201d Layendecker said. \u201cI hope that we don\u2019t remain the only \u2018space sex institute\u2019 that is out there, because it is going to take hundreds, probably thousands of researchers, thousands of people to really begin to tackle this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even though the serious study of sex in space still hasn\u2019t gotten past first base, Logan sees reason for hope. \u201cWhen you talk about sex in space, nobody really giggles anymore, because people are more attuned to it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey know the ultimate thing is to get humans off the planet, so very few people giggle anymore \u2014 and that giggle factor in my time at NASA was the largest impediment to progress.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers say the mechanics of having sex in space would be easier to manage than the biology of pregnancy and fetal development in a reduced-gravity environment. (Credit: ID 309694213 \u00a9 Anna Ivanova | Dreamstime.com) Sex in space is the perfect subject for levity and double entendres, and the panelists at a Deep Tech Week session [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4320,367,625,4321,4322,21],"class_list":["post-17009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-deep-tech-week","tag-mars","tag-moon","tag-pregnancy","tag-sex","tag-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17009"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}