The Most Expensive Sex Ever

In a recently released book by Pierre Kohler (a respected French Science author) it has emerged that sex experiments took place on the 1996 Space Shuttle mission. The mechanics of sex in zero gravity were of particular interest to scientists given the likelyhood of ever longer missions.

The book “The Final Mission: Mir The Human Adventure” claims that the experiments were carried out in preparation for married couples spending time on the International Space Station.

A confidential NASA report on a space shuttle mission in 1996 is cited as hard evidence of these experiments. The project was codenamed STS-XX – and was designed to explore sexual positions in zero gravity. 10 positions were tested, with only 4 found to be viable without mechanical assistance. At a wild guess, I imagine the missionary position might be a non starter….

In terms of value for money – each space shuttle mission costs $450 million – according to NASA official figures. That works out at $112.5 million per position! Cheap at the price…. maybe not!