"What Happens When You Get Your Period In Space?

"In the early days of space flight, menstruation was part of the argument for why women shouldn't become astronauts...

In 1964, researchers from the  Women in Space Program  still suggested (without evidence) that putting "a temperamental psychophysiologic human" (i.e., a hormonal woman) together with a "complicated machine" was a bad idea. (Evidently the Soviets struggled with this, too.)...

In 1983, 22 years after Alan Shepard became the first American to go to space, Sally Ride left Earth's atmosphere. She told an interviewer:

"I remember the engineers trying to decide how many tampons should fly on a one-week flight; they asked, 'Is 100 the right number?'

"No. That would not be the right number."

So what does happen when you get your period in space?

The same thing that happens on Earth! In the past three decades of female space flight, periods in space have been normal — no menstrual problems in microgravity."

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/17/441160250/what-happens-when-you-get-your-period-in-space?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150917

Click for some great examples of mid-century sexism.

Related: flow and marathon one, a joyful essay by a woman who decided not to wear a tampon while running a marathon