First Female Crew

Imagine you are on board with the first all female mission to the International Space Station, commonly known as the ISS. Sure there have been female astronauts and they have broken the ground to get you on board this historic mission. You have gone through much of the same training, but over the years the women who flew to space learned a few things that don’t necessarily apply to male astronauts and helped to introduce these into your training.

One of the most obvious things, but one that isn’t talked about much, if at all, is hygiene. We like to keep our hair clean, moisturize our skin at will, keep our breath fresh at all times, and avoid body odors at all cost.  And then we have to deal with menstrual cycles…not a problem for a crew of men. But we had to consider how our periods might affect overall crew performance. Finally, there is the issue of sex during long duration missions in space.

All of these items were part of the training with the exception of sex. That closet remained mostly closed except when learning how to contain bodily excretions using the toilet and various vacuum devices. Of course, privacy was the big issue here. Male astronauts apparently don’t have sex in space. At least that seems to be the official line. Maybe they sneak a vacuum into their sleeping bags when no one is watching? But there are cameras and heart rate monitors to contend with at all times.  So everybody knows that Astronaut BOB, an acronym meaning Beats Off Blatantly, set the all time record for space wanking.

For our mission, we made it clear that our private time would be away from any males and completely off camera. During training my thoughts occasionally drifted toward thoughts of how I might sneak in some fun and the five women that I trained with, April, Barb, Cassandra, Diana, and Eve all admitted to having the same thoughts. You can imagine where and when you would have enough time. It became a mental game and we even came up with some gear, mostly made from clips, straps, equipment pouches, and velcro, to make it easier. To get by any thorny questions, we called all of  it “additional safety items.”

On launch day, we each had our gear bags stowed, including our flight suits and personal items, inside the Y Space capsule along with the rest of the supplies. Once we were all strapped in, I knew there would no stopping us. We were going to have a shot at Bob’s record and become legends of space travel. One of us would earn the title Astronaut JOAN (Jills Off Almost Nightly). No small feat. I once took the orgasm a day for a year challenge and had trouble keeping it going through January. I joined SoloTouch in February and the rest of the year went smoothly.

The fun started even before liftoff. Our final crew of four, April, Barb, Diana and me, each picked a number between 0 and 1000 out loud and then closest to a random three digit number generated by the flight computer would get first opportunity for alone time at the ISS. Diana won, and she sent a message in open chat to our two alternate crew members at mission control…Diana is a go!  But no one knew what Barb had planned. 

Less than 10 minutes after liftoff the zero g indicator, our little rainbow unicorn plush toy, started to float around us. Soon after we were allowed to change into our flight suits from the heavier pressure suits needed for launch and early flight. Typically, cameras are turned off during this time to allow us privacy, and Barb had planned ahead. 

As we all wiggled out of our pressure suits and were bouncing around in our undergarments, this wicked grin spread across her face as she reached into her gear bag, opened up a ziploc container and without a word pulled out a pre-lubed vibe, the battery powered insertable type, turned the vibe on and in one smooth, quick move reached into her undies and inserted the buzzing toy. The noise was no longer noticeable, but Barb couldn’t hide her grin. One of our tasks is to watch each other for safety and health reasons, so it was actually part of our job to watch as Barb’s heart rate started to increase. It’s actually normal to have an elevated heart rate during launches, but when Barb’s started to rise about 100 BPM, the flight surgeon asked if she was ok.

“Checking sensor,” Barb replied, trying her hardest to sound professional.

She started the process of disconnecting it to check, then made a request.

“I need a bio break. Would now be a good time?”

“Barb, you are a go for bio break,” came the reply from mission control.

She moved to the capsule’s in flight toilet and while we couldn’t really see what she was doing, the stifled moans gave some idea. She finished, returned to her seat and reconnected to the sensor, still grasping the tissue holding her vibrator, which was now off. Our primary crew contact at mission control back on Earth was our backup crew. Cassandra had first watch.

“How is everything, Barb?”

“Confirm good liftoff, all good here!”

“You’re on the way. Enjoy the ride!”

“Roger! Flight surgeon. How is my heart rate reading.”

“Elevated, but nominal. You’re good.”

Once the official chatter was done, I looked over at Barb and put my hand on hers.

“You stole home!”

“Yep, you all need to catch up.” 

The challenge was on.

We reached the space station, docked, safely entered the ISS, and finished the 10 minute broadcast alongside the all male crew that was aboard the station before us. The broadcast focused on the historic nature of our crew arriving at the station. The instant that was over, Diana excused herself to go try the station’s toilet. The rest of us started doing our jobs, but also made sure to keep the male crew from noticing what was up with Diana.

Diana and I became close during training, so it was only natural that I would be the one to check on her after an appropriate amount of time. She was married, but during the past year we talked about her being open to new experiences. I had my fantasies about this, but could only hope some of them could actually happen. 

When I went to the area in the module with the toilet, she was standing in front of it with the door open, her back to me, and totally immersed in what she was doing. I watched in total silence as her hips rocked forward and back, then in a swaying motion that followed the movement of her arms. I was so turned on by the sight, the wildness of being on the ISS and seeing my friend in her state of ecstasy. There was also the sense of near euphoria that probably came from the purity of the air and weightlessness. She had the toilet fan on, which covered any noise she might be making, but I could imagine the squishy sound of her fingers slipping in and out along with some soft moans and sighs. 

It took every bit of my self control to keep from joining her, but this was her time. I watched her head tilt back and thought I heard a gasp of pleasure. Her arms stopped their rapid movements and were in a slow, soft rhythmic massage. This was the rarest of sights I could imagine and I stood motionless, in awe as she cleaned up, dropped the tissues into the solid waste container, and adjusted her flight suit.  When she turned and noticed that I was near, I let myself drift slowly toward her until we came together and shared our first of many weightless embraces. 

We rejoined the crew in another module of the ISS. The conversation was initially polite small talk followed by some housekeeping and scheduling items, then we were free for an hour to settle in and explore the station. April and Barb knew what Diana had been doing, but what they wouldn’t know until later was how Diana and I had become closer than ever. I used a good portion of this hour in the privacy of my sleeping quarters reviewing my work schedule and getting settled in. This included a few minutes reserved for testing some of my strapping and velcro, um, safety items. With some minor adjustments, I found that I could easily hold a position inside of my sleeping area either with or without my sleeping bag. Even better, my straps included enough room for a friend, something I hoped to test soon.

We had a few more hours of getting familiar with our surroundings, going over things with the previous crew, and trying to avoid motion sickness. Then it was time for sleep. But really, who can sleep on their first night in space? Not only that, Barb and Diana were ahead by at least one in the orgasm count with a chance to go up by two. I was about to get my first lesson in how things were truly different. Moisture just works differently up here. It clumps and sticks to things in unusual ways. Forget gobs of lubricant and gushing orgasms. I quickly learned that electronics and absorbent towels or pads were my friends. Thinking ahead, I kept my pants and undies around my ankles this first time, unsure of what might happen at any moment, then I clicked my rechargeable vibe on and started down the path to orgasmic glory as one of the very, very few women to ever have such pleasure. 

I took my time and kept the power on low. Another thing I notice was how incredibly puffy my outer lips were, like oversized, yeasty buns. I wedged them open and slowly massaged along the inner areas of my labia, letting the vibrations sink into their new, pillowy softness. Oh how different but yummy, but also an obstacle to reaching my first orgasm, an obstacle that had to be overcome. I finally settled into a rhythmic, upward thrusting of the vibrator towards my clit followed by a release of pressure. The slow build-up was followed by another experience… a minutes long period of orgasms that rose and subsided like waves.  I never wanted it to end. If anyone nearby had been sleeping, they must be awake now because I couldn’t contain myself, letting go with gasps and sighs of pleasure. Maybe I wanted to be heard.

I quickly cleaned up, pulled up my undies and pants, then exited my sleep area to toss my collection of absorbent pads.  Diana and Barb were waiting and greeted me with applause. April was still in her cabin area and the noises there went on unabated through the floating ovation. The three of us waited together until she appeared for her own round of applause. Afterwards, I slept more than I had in weeks.

We settled into our daily routines aboard the ISS within days. Fortunately for us, we had planned for sex and it became an important part of our daily experience. After a few weeks, comfortable as we could be in such a setting, the opportunity finally presented itself for Diana and me to share alone time together. Everything aligned…work schedules, sleep schedules, menstrual cycles, and our desire to explore a more intimate relationship. It helped that the station population was down to six with the departure of the previous American crew. We simply had more space.

For our first time, we secretly planned to try something never attempted before. We would use my straps to bind ourselves together while floating, but tethered, in the middle of the Tranquility module. Timing would be tricky because the toilet was located nearby, so we planned for a time an hour after April, Barb had gone to bed and the two European crew would be busy in another part of the station.

When it was time, I met Diana at the exercise area in Tranquility. I wore my shorts and a knit polo with no bra. I also wore my straps under my shirt at my waist with another just above one knee. She smiled as I entered the module and dimmed the lights.

“Hi, D” I said in a soft voice.

“Hey, Effie.”

“Are we really doing this?“ I asked.

“We are. Yes. Show me what you want to do.”

This was a first for her in more ways than one. We had talked about her bi-sexual curiosity at dinner with her husband one night near the end of our training year. It seemed to be exciting to him as well. We agreed that if we ever had a chance, either with our partners or without, that we should act on our desires, but always respect  our primary relationships. And he reconfirmed that before our launch, knowing that we would need support from other during our six or seven months in space.

“We’ll start by putting this strap around your waist and that will attach with this clip to my waist. Then when we’re strapped together, we can loop this strap from my leg around the back of your leg and adjust the length with this velcro…”

“Wow! You even have pouches and everything.”

“Yep.” I had pouches on the waist straps that were large enough to carry toys and other necessities like lotion and pads…the essentials. And it all worked! 

Once we were strapped together, I used a tether to hook us into a point on the wall that kept us from drifting around Tranquility too much. And our arms were free to do anything we wanted.

For the longest time, we just held each other, kissing and looking at each other, talking about how lucky we were to have this time together. We talked about our love for our partners back on Earth and how much we missed them and wanted to share everything with each other when we returned. 

She caressed my naked breast after I lifted my shirt up and I discovered hers for the first time, too. She was very sensitive and I told her I was the opposite, that she could pinch mine and I’d let her know when it was too rough. We didn’t really have much time, and anyone was free to visit Tranquility at any moment, so we hurried more than we would have liked, quickly pulling our shorts down just enough to give access. We had discovered that a certain type of body lotion had just the right consistency and would both adhere and lubricate without creating floating globs of goo around us. We both had tubes of this and used it on our fingers to slather enough on each other to make penetration easy. Then she retrieved her favorite toy from her pouch and handed it to me. I handed her mine, too, and we positioned ourselves with the tips of our toys ready to push into each other. We looked each other in the eyes and I felt her enter me with my toy as I did the same to her. The look in her eyes, steady, but yielding and desirous. Amazing. I hoped she could see that in my eyes, too.

We weren’t discovered. No one came into Tranquility, or if they did notice us, no one said anything. We never used the straps again for free floating lovemaking, knowing it was too risky or intrusive on the space of others in such close quarters, especially after the arrival of a replacement crew weeks later that brought the ISS population up to nine people.

We did find moments again for private embraces and the rare cupola rendezvous with the Earth wizzing by below us as we experienced climaxes together within the broader context of that climactic setting. 

Our four woman crew broke the dam, unofficially, on sex research in space. That was in addition to our real scientific work on the ISS, what all astronauts strive to achieve, which we were able to do flawlessly and perhaps with greater focus given that our other human needs were met regularly, even routinely, and never become a distraction.