There is no room for romance on board the cosy confines
of the International Space Station, a NASA space shuttle commander
said Monday when asked what would happen if astronauts had sex in
space.
"We are a group of professionals," said Space Shuttle Discovery
commander Alan Poindexter during a visit to Tokyo, after a reporter
asked about the consequences if astronauts boldly went where
probably no others have been.
"We treat each other with respect and we have a great working
relationship. Personal relationships are not ... an issue," said a
serious-faced Poindexter. "We don't have them and we won't."
Poindexter and his six crew members, including the first
Japanese mother in space Naoko Yamazaki, were in Tokyo to talk
about their two-week resupply mission to the International Space
Station.
The April voyage broke new ground by putting four women in orbit
for the first time, with three female crew joining one woman
already on the station.
Sex in space may appear out of bounds, but astronauts have been
known to succumb to earthly passions.
In 2007 former NASA astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak allegedly wore
adult diapers when driving hundreds of miles across the United
States without bathroom breaks to confront a suspected rival in a
romance with a fellow astronaut.
