Talking about tampons still makes a lot of people squeamish – including NASA engineers. When Sally Ride because the first American woman to fly to space, scientists went to great lengths to make sure they prevent any embarrassing moment.

And by great lengths, we mean they pondered her tampons, weighed them, and had a professional sniffer smell them to see if the non-deodorized ones wouldn’t have too strong of a scent in the confined space capsule.

Engineers even tried to consider how many she might need for her week in space – leading to the famous and hilarious question: “Is 100 the right number?” However, it shows the NASA team was trying to be thoughtful.

There were also other concerns before the first woman went into space, such as the possibility that menstruation would cause them to become weepy or unable to function. Probably the biggest concern of them all was that the menstrual cycle might somehow not work in space.

Scientists worried that the lack of gravity would induce retrograde menstruation, a frightening condition that causes the flow of blood to go back through the fallopian tubes into the abdomen.

However, nothing out of the ordinary happened. It turns out the uterus is pretty good at getting rid of the lining sans gravity. Handling space tampons was probably not very comfortable, and space cramps are probably as much of a nuisance as Earth cramps.

But this has caused scientists to ponder the possibility for female astronauts to not have periods at all. The technology is already here, and using an oral contraceptive continuously is currently the safest choice for astronauts to keep turn their menstruation off during space missions.

While contraceptive implants and IUDs are also options, the pill already has a pretty good track record in space. Female astronauts have already tried them out without the fanfare that occurred with Sally Ride’s space tampons.

But it’s not just space ladies that are opting out of their periods. According to polls, women on Earth are increasingly interested in suppressing their menstrual cycle, which gynecologists say is perfectly safe.

As far as long-term space travel is concerned, skipping the flow has added benefits. A woman who would go to Mars and back – spending three years in space – would need roughly 1,100 pills. It definitely adds some weight to a mission, but they are less cumbersome than all those tampons.
Image Source: Universe Today