Is that a boner in your space suit, or just the effects of zero gravity?

With weddings in space around the corner, chances are out of this world consummations are soon to follow.

"To say that astronauts are some superior beings who cannot have interests in any kind of sexual feelings for three years ... I just don't buy it," said Jason Kring of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. Kring also pointed out the possibly negative consequences of pregnancies in a microgravity environment.

"We don't study sexuality in space, and we don't have any studies ongoing with that," said NASA spokesman Bill Jeffs of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "If that's your specific topic, there's nothing to discuss."

Here on Earth, the closest analog to long-term isolation of groups in space is the South Pole, where about 200 researchers live year-round. Last month, before six months of winter darkness descended over Antarctica's McMurdo Station, the research base received a delivery of about 16,500 condoms.

In Space, sexual frustration will most likely be an issue, as well. "Human sexuality is a basic need and now you're trying to tell people, 'Hey for three years, you can't do that.' They're going to figure out a way to do it," Kring said.

How it works
The key to successful sex in space is about managing a microgravity environment.

In "Sex in Space," Woodmansee describes several positions that might work, ranging from the modified missionary position to seated with "interlocking Y legs."

Props also could come into play, including a shared elastic waistband or tethers to hold one partner to a stable structure, she writes.