The Truth About Soviet Sex In Space

No lying down on the job for the late Soviet space hero Yury Gagarin

Just in case you were wondering, neither Soviet nor Russian cosmonauts have ever had sex in space. Not ever. Not even once.

At least that's what Valery Bogomolov, deputy director of the Moscow-based Institute of Biomedical Problems, told Russia's Interfax news agency:

"There's no official or unofficial evidence that there were instances of sexual intercourse or the carrying out of sexual experiments in space. At least, in the history of Russian or Soviet space exploration this most certainly was not the case. As for American space exploration, well, I just don't have the information to categorically deny that."

And who was asking? Well, according to AFP, "Rumors have persisted for years of secret Russian and American programs to test the effects of weightlessness on sex but this has always been strongly denied by both sides."

Well, I guess you learn something new every day.

-- Brian Whitmore