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NASA says it is considering studying sex in space, as it is 'crucial' for future long-haul missions to the Moon and Mars, that could see astronauts away from Earth for years. This was said in response to a study proposal by a team of five Canadian academics, who called on space organizations to embrace the new discipline of space sex study. Understanding sex, and how it will work in a low gravity environment, is essential to the success of deep space missions, and building off-world settlements... NASA has long avoided the question of sex between astronauts, having previously categorically insisted...

hese experiments are designed to give agencies a better idea of how humans would interact and cope during a long space journey. The volunteer research subjects start their virtual journey to Phobos on October 1, in a ground-based habitat at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Their home for the 45 days will be a small habitat called the Human Exploration Research Analog, or HERA - with collected data informing the design of future missions to the Red Planet, expected to happen in the 2030s. HERA is a two-story, four-port cylindrical habitat unit with a total of 636 sq....

Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP) -- Astronaut Lisa Nowak was fired from NASA on Wednesday, a month after she was charged with trying to kidnap a woman she regarded as her romantic rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot. NASA officials said Nowak's dismissal did not reflect the space agency's belief in her guilt or innocence. The agency said it lacked an administrative system to handle the allegations because Nowak is a naval officer on assignment to NASA, rather than a NASA civil servant. If Nowak were a civil servant, NASA would have the choice of placing her on...

<p>HOUSTON (Reuters) - Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper collapsed twice during a welcome-home ceremony on Friday, a day after returning to Earth from a 12-day mission on space shuttle Atlantis.</p> <p>Stefanyshyn-Piper, who was on her first spaceflight and made two long spacewalks to perform work on the International Space Station, had "a couple of small dizzy spells" while speaking during the ceremony at Ellington Field in Houston, said NASA spokeswoman Lynnette Madison.</p>