The Committee to Nuke Elysium

The near-zero gravity of Earth orbit may do serious harm to the male and female reproductive systems, the University of Kansas Medical Center biologist has discovered.

Sperm counts drop. Egg-producing ovary cells waste away.
At least that’s been the case among the laboratory and space-traveling rodents that Tash has studied.

What prolonged exposure to microgravity does to an astronaut’s fertility remains a big unknown. But Tash’s hypothesis isn’t reassuring: Long-term spaceflight renders people “reproductively compromised.”

“We have a lot of tantalizing data that require more rigorous investigation,” Tash said. “It’s unfortunate that we’re discovering this just as the shuttle program is winding down.”

Tash will have an experiment with mice on board in February for one of the final space shuttle flights.