In Space There Is No Status Quo: Space Communities as Social Experimentation Regarding Reproduction and Kinship

Human societies possess various moral and legal codes that rely on precedent; an act can be considered “right” simply by virtue of its having always been done that way before. Cultural norms can be hard to challenge, and laws are often slow to change. Emerging technologies are often cast as a threat to social values, with reproductive technologies representing a particular concern if they challenge traditionally held views of kinship and family structure. Creating a multicultural community of humans in space provides an opportunity to explore alternative reproductive futures and family arrangements without exposing existing human societies to unknown risks or being constrained by precedent. As social norms for such a community have not yet been established, conscious and deliberate consideration of how we might want such a community to form and propagate is possible. As family-making is an essential element of society building, this chapter will consider emerging reproductive technologies in the light of future space exploration and habitation.