---
title: "Cosmonauts Refuse to Provide Semen Samples in Space"
description: "Russian scientists want to study reproduction and fertility in space, but cosmonauts are refusing to provide some crucial biological samples."
date: "2019-06-19"
modified: "2019-06-19"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cosmonauts-refuse-semen-samples-space"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "biology"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Cosmonauts Refuse to Provide Semen Samples in Space

![Russian scientists want to study reproduction and fertility in space, but cosmonauts are refusing to provide some crucial biological samples.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/cosmonauts-refuse-semen-samples-space.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: geralt/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Performance Anxiety

Russian scientists know that in order to settle on other planets and space-based habitats, space travelers will need to start families just like they do here on Earth.

Unfortunately, they're having a hard time with the recruitment process — Russian cosmonauts keep refusing to provide semen samples during their space missions, putting a stop to space reproduction studies before they can even start.

## Recoil

Irina Ogneva, a cell biophysicist at the Russian Academy of Sciences, wants to study how space travel affects sperm production by comparing sperm from before, during, and after a spaceflight. But cosmonauts aren't too jazzed about the middle part.

"We constantly encounter obstacles of a moral and psychological and ethical nature," Ogneva said in [an interview](<https://ria.ru/20190619/1555686553.html>) with the state-run media outlet *RIA Novosti*. "There are no cosmonauts who want to."

## Fumble

No space sperm could mean no space conception, [no space families](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/give-birth-space-spacelife-origin>), and no space colonies that last longer than a generation.

But when asked to contribute to this particular aspect of scientific progress, Ogneva told *RIA* that this particularly sticky situation "causes everyone to smile and reject."

**READ MORE:** ['No cosmonauts want to': Scientists struggle for semen samples from space](<https://www.rt.com/news/462209-sperm-test-cosmonauts-say-no/>) \[*RT*\]

**More on space:** *[Can Humans Conceive In Space? NASA Sent Sperm To The ISS To Find Out](<https://futurism.com/sperm-space-nasa>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)