For the first time ever (officially, anyway), human sperm is headed to space.

NASA is launching a mission to the International Space Station to study how fertilization could happen in space. The mission, called Micro-11, will bring frozen human and bull sperm samples aboard the space station. "Studying reproductive biology in space is useful because the unique environment of microgravity can reveal processes and connections not visible in gravity on Earth," NASA writes.




In mammals, fertilization occurs when a sperm cell swims out to fuse with an egg. To get going, the sperm cell needs to be activated, and its cell membrane has to be come more fluid to move faster. "Previous experiments with sea urchin and bull sperm suggest that activating movement happens more quickly in microgravity, while the steps leading up to fusion happen more slowly, or not at all. Delays or problems at this stage could prevent fertilization from happening in space," NASA explains.

So what NASA really wants to know is...can reproduction happen in outer space?.....snip~


http://start.att.net/news/read/categ..._space-rhearst



Or do they really want to know if Humans can have sex while in space. So far, its a big no no.