from drudge:

Astronauty but nice

IAN SPARKS

ASTRONAUTS had sex on the American space shuttle - with the full blessing of NASA bosses.

The zero-gravity nookie sessions were all in the cause of finding which positions work best in a weightless environment.

But the men and women volunteers created their own atmosphere as they went through TEN different lovemaking tests, says astronomer Pierre Kohler.

Six positions used an inflatable tunnel with WALL straps.

They were designed to hold the lovers together - though the other four positions allowed the couple to FLOAT freely about the capsule.

Kohler, French author of many books on space, claims he has seen secret files on the 1996 sexperi-

ments. He says NASA document number 12-571-3570 reveals that mixed teams of astronauts were sent on four missions to boldly go where no-one had gone before.

Well, at least not Yanks - though Russian Svetlana Savitskaia was rumoured to have had sex with one or more of the four men she spent a month with on the now-defunct Salyut-7 space station in 1982.

And in 1991, Britain's first female astronaut Helen Sharman, then 28, said she'd had "fantastic experiences" on the Mir station with four cosmonauts.

This is not to suggest any impropriety - though one Russian said the crew had "great fun" with Helen, who was videoed floating around in a pink nightie!

Now Kohler, who makes his claims in his new book The Final Mission, says: "Sex in space could have been tried out many times.

"But the NASA experiments were possibly the first to find the most effective ways of doing it if couples had to spend a long time in space."

-- Astronauts like Tang (@ .), February 22, 2000

Answers

It's bullshit.

-- semper paratus (still_here_with@my.pals), February 22, 2000.

if this IS true -- sounds like kinsey institute and their bogus science has gotten to the naughty boys at nasa. just excellent examples of government waste and abuse.

-- tt (cuddluppy@aol.com), February 23, 2000.

what else is there to do up there

i expect they were at it all the time

british women are notorious for spreading it about whilst on hol.

-- sir richard (richard.dale@unum.co.uk), February 23, 2000.

Didn't we send up a married pair of astronauts a few years back?

-- Alice (Looking@glass.com), February 23, 2000.

NASA was even gonna open an new restaurant out there, but found it lacked atmosphere.......(BaDaBoom........ducking and running...:)))))

-- Bird (Bird@nest.home), February 23, 2000.