NASA to use Chemical Sterilization on long missions?!?

[skrap1r0n]

According to this, NASA is considering chemical Sterilization for long missions.

Nasa was nonplussed by the suggestion yesterday. "I haven't heard anything about that," said a spokesman at Nasa's Johnson Space Centre, where the long-range trips announced by President George Bush in January are being planned.

But that denial may hide a reluctance, in a nation where the showing of a nipple on national television provokes a religious outcry, to discuss the rather delicate subject of sex in space.

(Just what NASA needs, a real coverup exposed. The woo-woo's will eat it up.)

Now I can understand the pregnancy being an issue, but chemical Sterilization to reduce the URGE seems a lottle over the top. Now...Vasectomies and Tubal Ligations can be reversed. It seems that Disallowing an instinct as basic as eating and breathing on a long mission would have more of an adverse effect on the crew than just preventing pregnancy.

I mean come on...2 years is a long damn time. As long as they are consenting, NASA needs to just leave well enough alone and keep out of this issue.

[tuffel999]

One a pregnancy would be a huge problem.
Two from the biography I could find on Dr Armstong

Dr Rachel Armstrong is a lecturer, broadcaster and medical doctor specializing in the future of human anatomy and our evolution with machines and technology. Published books include Sci-Fi Aesthetics and Space Architecture by Wiley Academy and the science fiction book, The Grays Anatomy by Serpents Tail.

So I am not taking her word for it that's for sure.

Third, saltpeter works just fine :wink: (no not really)

Edit: Ohh man it gets better check "Dr" Armstrong here

[skrap1r0n]

Well thats why I am saying that vasectomies and Tubal ligations would be a better route to go. The 'nauts could make "deposits" before the procedure in case they decided to have kids when they get back. Let them go and do what they want.

On another note...At somepoint someone IS going to get pregnant in space. What difference would it really make? I mean sure it could throw a wrench in the works for some aspects of carrying out mission plans. I say go for it. what is absolutely the WORST thing that could happen? Death of the mother and baby? I know it sounds harsh, but the reality is, Death is a possibility for ANYONE on that mission.

NASA, Keep your hands OUT of our astronauts pants.

[Madcat]

I for one, volunteer to "discuss" this matter further with "Dr" Armstrong. Whoo-whee, since when are the woo-woos evil space vixens? 8)

[daver]

[I mean come on...2 years is a long damn time. As long as they are consenting, NASA needs to just leave well enough alone and keep out of this issue.

In Stranger in a Strange Land, RAH had the crew of the first Mars mission kill each other off due to various sexual tensions that accumulated on the way. Three years is a long time to spend in close proximity to perhaps half a dozen people; when you add unrequited lust to the mix you could end up with a murderous situation.

[TinFoilHat]

I have heard it claimed that conception in space is impossible, because the egg won't correctly implant on the uterus wall, or won't develop properly in the abscence of gravity, or something like that. Have there been any experiments with animals to determine if a pregnancy in space is possible? I suspect the answer is that we still don't know.

[Andromeda321]

There are a few animals that have lived out a few generations in space but I think those were non-mammals. At least as far as I've heard...

[mike alexander]

Madcat noted:

I for one, volunteer to "discuss" this matter further with "Dr" Armstrong. Whoo-whee, since when are the woo-woos evil space vixens?

The blurb at the site he pointed to says:

Dr. Rachel Armstrong is a writer, television presenter, multimedia producer, and medical doctor specializing in the evolution of humankind through 'unnatural interventions'.

'unnatural interventions'?

[tuffel999]

Madcat noted:

I for one, volunteer to "discuss" this matter further with "Dr" Armstrong. Whoo-whee, since when are the woo-woos evil space vixens?

The blurb at the site he pointed to says:

Dr. Rachel Armstrong is a writer, television presenter, multimedia producer, and medical doctor specializing in the evolution of humankind through 'unnatural interventions'.

'unnatural interventions'?

Yeah I liked that.........and the comment about Dr. Armstrong wasn't about her looks no offense to whoever found her hot but...... ':-&'

I meant the woo-woo status she has.

Edit: Hey the vomit smile is broken

[Madcat]

Yeah, I know, but you've gotta admit, she looks better than Nancy or Hoagland.

[AZgazer]

Yeah, I know, but you've gotta admit, she looks better than Nancy or Hoagland.

Great, Anna Nicole Smith is now a Woo Woo too! #-o

I mean that was her pic right? :^o

:P

[Maksutov]

Yeah, I know, but you've gotta admit, she looks better than Nancy or Hoagland.

Great, Anna Nicole Smith is now a Woo Woo too! #-o

I mean that was her pic right? :^o

:P

Which picture were you looking at? The one taken of Amstrong at the conference would seem to indicate it would take about three of her to build one Anna Nicole. :roll:

[Maksutov]

As posted over in BABBling:

I really enjoyed this part:

Other scientists have suggested that the best way to ensure there is no interplanetary interplay is to crew the mission with astronauts over the age of 50. "The idea is that they won't be worried about having families and concerned about getting exposed to radiation, because they're getting towards the end of their useful working lives," explained Peter Bond, a British expert on space matters.

Yup, once you're over 50, you pay no mind to those silly little dosimeters, families hold no attraction, you're almost dead, and, of course, you have no interest in sex.

Yup.

Pardon me while I check out.

:roll:

[Madcat]

Didn't the Air Force talk about nuclear ramjets manned by elderly people as bombers back in the 50's?

We have some sort of predispositon towards packing our aged population off to radiation-induced doom. What does that say about us as a society :-?

[AZgazer]

Did anyone ever see the show Dinosaurs? There was an episode where the family's father was going to get to toss his mother-in-law off a cliff into some lava because she had reached the end of her sociatal usefulness. (It was a time honored tradition.) Of course the adolescent dinosaur talked his dad into not doing it, thus ruining his fathers life long dream of satisfaction, but also laying the foundation for us to follow. While running nuclear ramjets around or sending old peeps off into space may appeal to some on a warped level, the bottom line will always remain...if we won't trust most that age to program the remote, how are they going to know what doohickey or gizmo to push to properly detonate/guide any payload? :wink:

On a serious note, I would be most appalled if NASA or any agency was actually thinking of using older people to avoid the "urges". Yes they are humans with urges, but they are also a special breed of people who would put that much time, hard work and not to mention sacrifice of social/home life to attain the goal of going on a mission of that magnitude...for what? to jeapordize everything for some fun? I do and will continue to believe they would be a little more professional than that.

[TriangleMan]

From my post on this thread, which references an article on this topic:

Interestingly, there is no Nasa ban on sex between crew members. "We depend and rely on the professionalism and good judgement of our astronauts," said a Nasa spokesman in 2000. "There is nothing specifically or formally written down."