Paris - Sex in space works but forget the most conventional method if you are seeking the ultimate in love without gravity, according to a French author who also believes trials have been conducted aboard a US space shuttle.
"It appears the classical approach, the so-called missionary position, is an easy position only on Earth, when gravity keeps you pinned down, and that it would be ruled out in space," says Pierre Kohler in a new book, The Final Mission.
Kohler, an astronomer who has converted himself into cosmic affairs commentator, says documents posted on the Internet by a US researcher underpin his belief that astronauts have tested the limits of stellar sex with space agency support.
His publisher, Calmann-Levy, said it planned to issue the book on Thursday.
Nasa and other space agencies deny such "taboo" experiments, Kohler concedes, but he argues that his Internet discovery backs up the idea that experts have worked with astronauts to assess the possibilities of weightless intercourse.
The document, entitled Nasa No. 12 571-3570, describes how scientists drew up a shortlist of 10 sexual positions later tested by an astronaut couple in the zero-gravity conditions of orbit, albeit in a grounded shuttle, he says.
Six of the 10 trials needed props such as elastic belts or an inflatable tube similar to a sleeping bag to keep the couple tightly together, he says. The other four positions left it to sheer muscle power.
Kohler also says the couple apparently agreed to filming of the 10, one-hour sessions in the lower deck of the shuttle, and that they added their own personal footnotes to help scientists.
Nasa was said to have got an edited version only because the video footage was primarily compiled for a university, he says.
Kohler concedes that astronauts are also mute on the subject of human sex in orbit, even if they have conducted reproduction research on South African frogs and Japanese fish. - Reuters