SpaceLife Origin, a startup based out of the Netherlands has decided to send a pregnant woman into space, 250 miles above planet Earth in order to give birth to the very first extraterrestrial baby.

If our planet were to one day become unable to sustain humans, then we surely hope to have a backup plan of where else to settle, even if it may be another planet.  In order for this idea to come into play, we first have to learn how to reproduce in space, and for that very reason this startup is sending a pregnant woman to give birth without any gravity.

Although it may sound like a seriously crazy idea, they believe that our survival in the long term is dependent on it.  SpaceLife Origin plans on conducting a variety of experiments in space over the the next five years, with the most crucial of all, a birth in space, scheduled to take place in 2024.

They have even started to talk to women who are willing to be the first to give birth in space, and have wealthy donors who have agreed to finance the experiment.  However nonetheless, it will still surely have a lot of problems logistically, such as even just getting the pregnant woman into space right before she’s ready to deliver the baby.

The only other birth in space was experiments conducted on rats, fish and lizards back in the ’90s, and each of them were born with an underdeveloped vestibular system, concluding that infants need gravity.  The absence of gravity would surely create serious problems, especially when giving birth, the mother will not be given the assistance that she needs.

And then there’s the descent back down to earth which needs to be considered, which is not exactly something that a newborn is built for. What kind of passport would a baby born in space even have?

SpaceLife Origin is aware that its plan still has a lot of things to be figured out, but they are looking for answers, and believe that if they don’t do it, someone else will. Our future depends on it.