Editor’s Note

Since we first measured our days by how many rays of sunlight punctured the darkness of our cosy caves, humans have loved a bit of nookie in exotic locations as much as they’ve been fascinated by what lies beyond our atmosphere. Yet according to Nasa, no humans have ever had sex in space.

But humans are humans — and with hints of a burgeoning space travel industry and exciting talk about colonising Mars, there’ll no doubt soon be a race to be the first couple to join the 62-mile-high club (a reference to the Kármán line which defines the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space). It’s hard to believe that given the fact that space missions tend to take longer than a politician getting to the point, there haven’t been any incidences of astronauts attempting the “missionary impossible” position. Though it’s hard to swallow, when the situation is laid bare, it’s evident that sex in space ain’t easy. What Tomáš, the main character in Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being, learns to his detriment is that sex needs gravity.

Though she doesn’t address this touchy subject in her interview with journalist Sibusizo Mkwanazi, Dr Adriana Marais, theoretical physicist, technologist and aspiring extraterrestrial, has ostensibly considered it, along with everything else that must be thought of when making plans to live on another planet. PhD candidate in psychology specialising in human sexuality, sextech and erobotics Simon Dubé and his team at Canada’s Concordia University have highlighted the need for space programmes to seriously explore “space sexology ”— the comprehensive scientific study of extraterrestrial intimacy and sexuality. Dubé has already fleshed out a few potential areas for research, like designing systems and spaces that allow for eroticism in space colonies to be safe, private and hygienic.

The writing’s on the wall — space travel and space colonisation are coming. Hopefully we’ll be ready.

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