How do you imagine life up on a space station / in a shuttle?

[Spec]

How do you imagine life up on a space station / in a shuttle?

Boring, but beautiful.

But after a month, you must get used to the scenery and probably wanna go back home.

Imagine having sex with no gravity, now that must be a unique experience.

Spec.

[Spec]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
- and then there's the health thing. If you don't cycle and excercise near-constantly your muscles whither away.

And your bones lose density and they start breaking at the slightest impact...Like old people and their hips.

[DanS]

I expect the living volume for these space stations to increase drastically and for most space stations to rotate, creating artificial gravity.

The movie 2001: A Space Odyssey is a good look on this, even though it was made in 1968. I don't think you will need to be in the astronaut corps to live in space. However, right now, space is at least a slightly unpleasant place to live.

I can go into detail, if you like, but here's an article from a couple of weeks ago detailing how sex in space would be like. In short, it might be fun for novelty's sake, but having gravity is good for sex.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14002908/

In pertinent part...

* Sex in space would likely be "hotter and wetter" than on Earth, Bonta said, because in zero-G there is no natural convection to carry away body heat. Also, scientists have found that people tend to perspire more in microgravity. The moisture associated with sexual congress could pool as floating droplets.
* The physics of zero-G make the mechanics of sex more complicated. Bonta said it was challenging even to kiss her husband during a zero-G simulation flight they took recently. "You actually have to struggle to connect and stay connected," she recalled. Partners would have to be anchored to the wall and/or to each other. To address that need, Bonta has come up with her own design for garments equipped with strategically placed Velcro strips and zippers.
* Although zero-G could be a boon for saggy body parts, Bonta said males might notice a "slight decrease" in penis size due to the lower blood pressure that humans experience in microgravity.
* Romantics will also need to guard against the type of motion sickness that space travelers often encounter, especially if they get too adventurous right off. "Save the acrobatics for post-play vs. foreplay," Bonta advised.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Ecthy
Mike, that sounds amazing, where did you meet those people?

Charles Bolden retired as a Major General in the USMC, and his last assignment was as Commander, 3rd Marine Air Wing at MCAS Miramar, which is about 10 miles from here. When he was here (1994 to 2000) he was a very active public speaker, and involved in a lot of community groups, especially related to education. I saw him speak 7 times, and he is very accessible, staying late after his speeches and talking to pretty much anyone interested.

His background was interesting, being born black and fairly poor in the segregated south, getting into Annapolis, then flying as a combat pilot, test pilot, and finally 13 years in the NASA astronaut corps, with four flights, two as shuttle commander. He's fairly soft spoken, friendly, direct, quick to answer, no swagger or attitude, and when you listen to him, you have no doubt you're listening to someone extremely intelligent, and just highly skilled across the board - physically in shape, strong, quick thinking, organized, an obvious leader.

Sally Ride was an associate professor of physics at Standord when she flew, and later moved down to San Diego as a professor of physics at the University of California at San Diego, with an interest in specialized lasers and laser applications. My daughter and I met her at public function twice - she's always been big on keeping girls motivated to pursue their interests in science and technical fields, so she did a lot of public speaking and a few open lectures and symposia here. She left UCSD (nominally - she's on indefinite leave of absence) a few years ago to found Sally Ride Science, an educational non-profit organization.