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Text | Utopia on the clouds
Edit | Utopia on the clouds
Preface:
The dream of space flight has been a dream of human beings since ancient times, and when the dream gradually becomes a visible and tangible reality, people begin to have more doubts and the desire to explore. For example, after humans can travel through spacecraft, many people are very curious about a very sensitive issue - whether humans can engage in sexual activity in space.
This question may seem absurd, but it is also worth considering. However, for some reason, the pilots in space are basically impossible to be husband and wife or couple, so the answer to this question, although rumored, has never been confirmed.
Until 1992, a couple of American astronauts boarded the spacecraft "Challenger" and traveled in space for two weeks. When they returned to Earth, it was inevitable that people would ask this awkward question.
So, how did the couple pilot answer? Why can they go on space missions together as husband and wife?
The past and present of the American "Challenger"
The couple's names are Mark and Jane, and the spacecraft they are on is the carefully developed "Endeavour" in the United States, and as for why the United States has spent so much effort to build such a spacecraft, we must first talk about its old-timer - "Challenger".
"Challenger" almost condensed the top space technology at that time, and caused a huge sensation after its introduction. Some even say that it will become "Noah's Ark in the universe", implying that it will never be destroyed. However, it really cannot be said too soon, three years after the successful maiden voyage of the "Challenger", it had a tragic accident.
It was January 28, 1986, a day that left an indelible haze on almost all Americans. On that day, the "Challenger" was going into space to complete its tenth mission, and the first nine missions, the "Challenger" completed very well, so this tenth mission in the hearts of the US space agency workers, also feel confident. They have even begun to celebrate this "perfect" moment in their hearts.
However, no one expected that after the "Challenger" took off, just over a minute later, a violent explosion occurred. Not only did the spacecraft disintegrate and destroy due to the explosion, but all seven astronauts on board lost their precious lives on the spot, and none of them survived.
At that time, almost all the people of the United States were in front of the TV, seeing the apocalyptic scene, and the families of the seven astronauts almost passed out in tears, but the disaster was still irreparable.
Later, the eyes of the whole United States were attracted by this matter, and the then US President Reagan personally urged the relevant departments to find out the cause of the accident.
The results of the investigation soon came out, and it turned out that the cause of the sudden destruction of such a "behemoth" was only due to the failure and detachment of an O-ring attached to the auxiliary fuel tank. This avoidable tragedy shocked the world, and NASA immediately began a large-scale reorganization as if it had suffered a "blow to the head".
Although the accident is very tragic, the aerospace industry cannot stop here, and we have to look forward. As a result, the Americans began to try to build a new space shuttle to replace the "Challenger", which was "killed" in the mission.
The space shuttle took several years of scrutiny to build it, but the US government did not rush to name the spacecraft, but launched a name campaign, and the people who could participate in this activity were limited to all primary and secondary school students in the United States.
It can be seen that this move is not only to give the new spacecraft a new hope and meaning, but also to plant a seed of space dreams in the hearts of children.
Later, an American schoolboy submitted the name "Endeavour", which is actually borrowed from the name of a large British ship during the Age of Discovery. The President of the United States at the time was very satisfied and immediately agreed to this name full of courage to explore.
The name is ready, the plane is built, everything is ready, but there is still a rather important thing left from heaven, that is, the selection of pilots. It was at this time that Mark and Jane became one of the candidates, so how did they get selected as pilots as husband and wife?
The "underground couple" rushed into space
In fact, at NASA, there is a tacit rule that "husband and wife or couples cannot enter space together for missions." "This rule may seem a bit conservative, but it's actually easy to understand. First of all, couples or couples who perform tasks together will inevitably be emotionally affected, and if they happen to be in an awkward stage in their lives, after entering space together, it will undoubtedly bring serious hidden dangers to this operation.
In addition, this provision is also for the protection of astronauts' families. Although the space shuttle is carefully built and safe, no one dares to pack a ticket that it will not have any problems 100%, isn't the "Challenger" a good example? Therefore, astronauts entering space to perform tasks must be dangerous.
If a couple of astronauts really encounter a disaster in space, the probability of survival is almost zero. What about their children, their families? The family was almost devastated.
Therefore, it is reasonable for NASA to believe that the husband and wife cannot be allowed to go into space to carry out a mission together. But Mark and Jane are an exception, so what's going on?
It turned out that they didn't know each other at first, and it was "love at first sight" when they entered the candidates' team for training together. Because the training cycle is relatively long, and their relationship is progressing relatively quickly, they have not ushered in a space mission until they get married.
But they also know that NASA does not want the couple to go into space together, and in order to save this hard-won opportunity, they decide to get married in secret without alarming anyone. Because the "secrecy" was really well done, Mark and Jane really never been discovered, and both stood out among the candidates and became astronauts on the "Endeavour".
However, there is no impermeable wall in the world, and as the day of the space shuttle takeoff draws closer and closer, the relationship between Mark and Jane is finally impossible to hide. Although NASA is itching the roots of this gas, it is obviously too late to train new astronauts. In desperation, they acquiesced to Mark and Jane's actions, and on September 12, 1992, they sent them into space together.
This space mission can be described as touching people's hearts, especially because there is a couple on the spacecraft, which has aroused curiosity and speculation from the outside world. Fortunately, as time passed, the disaster that people feared did not happen. Mark and Jane finally completed the mission and returned to Earth safely.
While people feel happy, they can't help but have some "bad intentions" associations. Even some media and reporters asked very bluntly whether the two had "sexual activities" on the spacecraft.
The two responded very consistently to the outside world, saying that they only did work-related things every day in the spacecraft, without any personal communication. The implication is naturally that of course there is no "sexual activity" that people associate in their minds.
So, is Mark's Jane's statement credible? Is it possible to have "close contact" in the universe?
Scientists break the rumors
Although Mark and Jane both answered categorically, people only believed what they wanted to believe, so the outside world was still full of all kinds of gossip for a while. Fortunately, the relevant scientists quickly broke the rumors with convincing scientific theories.
First of all, because people will be in an obvious weightless state when they are in space, so every move will be very inconvenient, and even eating and walking will be severely restricted, let alone doing other "intimate activities".
In addition, astronauts' work in space is very delicate and busy, Mark and Jane are busy most of the day, and other times have to take rest to recover their strength. Under such circumstances, they will not have other thoughts in their minds at all.
Finally, the environment in space flight is not a private space. On the contrary, every move of astronauts will appear in the observation of ground staff, in order to ensure the safety of astronauts and avoid some crises and problems.
Moreover, Mark and Jane also have walkie-talkies that keep in touch with the ground around the clock, so it is impossible for them to do things that are not related to work in such a situation. Even if Mark and Jane wanted to do such a thing, I am afraid that they could only sigh: "It's too difficult!" ”
With tech workers showing up to break the rumors, people finally stopped gossiping about Mark and Jane. However, some people have also raised new questions, that is, whether "conception" can occur in space.
This question is indeed very valuable and meaningful for discussion, in fact, long before the "Endeavour" went to the sky, scientists used mice to carry out "space conception" experiments. And the result of the experiment is still surprising, that is, these mice that are normal on the ground, in space, have become uninterested in the big thing of breeding.
Scientists speculate that the reason for this situation is actually because of the weightless environment in space. In such a weightless state, the body and blood of mice will also lose gravity, appear hyperemic, swollen phenomenon, in this case, they naturally do not have the desire to reproduce at all.
However, there is not only one way for creatures on Earth to "conceive", and some animals, such as some fish, reproduce in vitro fertilization. This way of "conception" will be relatively less affected by the space environment, so can they complete "conception"?
In 1994, scientists did space experiments with blue fish. The final experimental results were eye-opening, these blue fish not only spawned normally, but also actually bred small fish. It can be seen that although the vast majority of animals cannot conceive in space, there are still a small number of animals that can break through the limitations of this environment, and the blue fish that spawns and fertilizes in vitro is a good example.
Human exploration of this problem has not stopped, and in 2013, Japanese scientists used mice to do experiments. However, this experiment is different from the past, scientists directly sent the sperm of mice into space and placed them in the vast universe for more than half a year.
In the end, it was found that the sperm of these mice were damaged to varying degrees, but they were still able to give birth to cubs. This experiment also gave people a new understanding of space radiation.
However, whether it is a blue fish or a mouse, the difference between humans and humans in all aspects is still far away, so whether humans can reproduce in the universe will take a long time to explore and verify.
epilogue
In many science fiction movies, there are often stories of human beings reproducing in space, and even opening up living space on other planets. Such a story may seem strange, but with the development of space technology, it may one day become a reality.
Just like the problems that once plagued human beings, under the unremitting exploration of scientists, they can only usher in the end of being solved one by one. Although the exploration and research of space is endless, we also believe that people's wisdom is endless, and under the efforts of human beings, space will one day unveil the mystery to us, allowing us to glimpse the full picture of the truth!