Sex In Space? Mary Roach on the NASA Zero-Gravity Sex Hoax

Packing for Mars author Mary Roach debunks an alleged NASA study on sex positions in a zero gravity orbital environment. "It's the greatest hoax on the Internet," she says. Roach also recalls what cosmonaut Aleksandr Laveykin, who spent 174 days in space, had to say on sex in space.

She took us into the world of cadavers and examined the anatomy, physiology and psychology behind sex. Now, Mary Roach discovers the surreality and weirdness of space.

For example, what happens when you've been in space for a year? And is it possible for a human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour? From the space shuttle training toilet to NASA's crash simulation tests, Roach explores the strange universe. - Commonwealth Club

Mary Roach is the author of the national bestsellers Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. Her writing has appeared in such publications as Salon, GQ, Vogue, and the New York Times magazine. She is most recently the author of Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void.

Oakland-based writer and performer Jeff Greenwald is the author of five best-selling travel books, including Shopping for Buddhas and The Size of the World (for which he created the first international blog). His stories and essays have appeared in many print and online publications--including the New York Times, National Geographic