The mission through the planets appears to be merely a metaphor for the sex act. But for better or for worse, we probably won't see anything this sexually-charged in space for the foreseeable future. The Issue Remains Still, as NASA thinks about how it should staff its long-duration missions, it may need to consider how to avoid disruptive rendezvous and relationships among its astronauts. There will always be affection between crewmembers, Wood says. But whether that affection develops into a potentially troublesome romance depends on the maturity and family bonds of the crew, she says.
Wood says stability on the ground can keep crew members levelheaded in space.
It's not sex, it's that they miss the relationship. One member of an Antarctic mission whom Wood studied, while missing his wife, insisted that sex with a fellow crewmember would be no help.