Xref: utzoo sci.space.shuttle:4862 alt.sex:11068 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mailrus!ames!skipper!shafer From: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle,alt.sex Subject: Re: Repost of NASA's "Sex in Space" Report (LONG) Message-ID: Date: 20 Mar 90 01:12:37 GMT References: <5089@helios.ee.lbl.gov> <1990Mar19.022336.18266@metro.ucc.su.OZ.AU> <864@eplunix.UUCP> Sender: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov Organization: NASA Dryden, Edwards, Cal. Lines: 34 In-reply-to: raoul@eplunix.UUCP's message of 19 Mar 90 17:34:48 GMT In article <864@eplunix.UUCP> raoul@eplunix.UUCP (Nico Garcia) writes: Ummm, to inject a note of realism here, according to Jerry Lettvin, physiologist and EE of MIT fame, childbirth in zero-G won't work. Development of the fetus may be gravitotropic, and the menstrual cycle is perturbed to say the least. According to him, (this was before Challenger so I'm not certain if it's still true), every woman in space since the first Russian woman has had a hysterectomy. It seems that her period hit her a couple of *hours* after landing, not her normal time, and the resulting blood loss and shock almost killed her. This isn't true. Not all women who've flown in space have had hysterectomies. They usually control the timing of their cycle with carefully administered oral contraceptives, which schedule menstruation very well. I've talked with them about this. (Now you know what women talk about in the restroom. :-) BTW, although menstrual fluid looks like blood, it isn't. It is rich in blood, but menstrual flow is not a haemorrhage. She (the Cosmonaut) may have haemorrhaged but that's not menstruation. I'd really like to see a reference on this, since part of it directly contradicts something I heard first-hand. So let's be careful with our hack statements out there. Sometimes a smiley is appropriate. Not everyone out here knows enough about the subject to tell when our legs are being pulled. Or something else ;-) Obviously. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov or ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA