The question has most likely already crossed your mind.  Can humans create sperm in space? Well, now NASA scientists are getting as close as ever to finding out.

NASA recently sent 5,800 pounds of supplies aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.  It might seem like a waste of expensive resources, but it helps us better understand if humans could eventually live on space.  Especially since long-term Mars missions as well as luxury space hotels become a reality, people will also start to try to make babies there as well.

The study is called Mission Micro 11 and will be testing if samples of both human and bull semen can freely move around enough, and quickly enough to fuse with an egg inside the station’s Microgravity Science Glovebox.  They experiments will be recorded and sent back to Earth.

These experiments are also important since earlier experiments have shown that with a lack of gravity, sperm function can be thrown off on Earth.

This is the not the first time sperm in space has been examined. NASA has already discovered that frozen mouse sperm can last 9 months and was able to produce healthy mice on when back on Earth.

Even once an understanding is gained of how sperm and space function take, there will still be many questions left unanswered.