Shuttle Sex In Space? -- Married Astronauts Say Issue Is Irrelevant

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The first married astronauts scheduled to share a space shuttle mission are playing down the historic precedent and turning aside questions about possible scientific experiments with sex in space.

Astronaut N. Jan Davis, 38, of Huntsville, a mission specialist on the upcoming Spacelab-J shuttle flight in September, says her husband's presence on her first shuttle mission is "irrelevant" to the planned scientific work.

Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Lee, 39, of Viroqua, Wis., her husband of 18 months and a shuttle veteran who will be the mission's payload commander, is equally dismissive.

"It's going to be fun to have gone on a mission together, but neither one of us thinks that much about it or what it means or anything else," Lee said. "We just feel we're two people going up to do jobs that we've trained many years to do."

He said having his wife aboard won't be a distraction, and is preferable to watching her head into orbit to face the dangers of space flight without him.

Davis met Lee while applying for astronaut training eight years ago.

Questions about possible experiments with sex in orbit were raised earlier this year when a NASA researcher, speaking at an aerospace conference here, suggested the agency take advantage of the couple's flight assignment to schedule experiments on human sexuality in weightlessness.

But NASA says it has no plans for such experimentation. And Davis, asked if there could be sexual experiments on the seven-day mission, answered flatly, "No."

The couple, who arrived in Huntsville Wednesday to complete mission training at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, even declined to be photographed together.

Five other astronaut-scientists will join Davis and Lee aboard space shuttle Endeavour.

Davis will share the scientific work of astronaut Mae Jemison of Chicago, who will conduct experiments involving fertilization of frog eggs during the flight. Scientists will study the developing embryos brought back from space for defects that could be attributed to zero-gravity conception.

Jemison said the experiments mark NASA's first attempt to develop vertebrate animals in space.

"We expect to get results to questions . . . such as, `Is gravity necessary for complete development of bones?' That could be useful in studying human development in space," she said.