One wonders whether he was being cryptic, diplomatic or simply vague in his final statement when Valery Bogomolov, deputy director of the Institute of Biomedical Problems spoke with the Interfax news agency.

"There's no official or unofficial evidence that there were instances of sexual intercourse or the carrying out of sexual experiments in space.  At least, in the history of Russian or Soviet space exploration this most certainly was not the case."

The Moscow-based scientist added that although he couldn't 'categorically deny' reports American astronauts had experimented with sexual intercourse while in orbit, "there are just anecdotal rumours which are not worth trusting."

Much has changed since the male-dominated early days of space exploration and in fact it wasn't until the Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) missions that facilities existed for men and woman to spend time together in orbit.  Since the availability of "free time" and some degree of "privacy" offered by the ISS to the astronauts aboard, there have been endless rumours of experiments with sex, all strenuously denied by authorities everywhere.

When asked about astronauts joining the 220-mile-high club, Astronaut Alan Poindexter said, according to the AFP, "We treat each other with respect and we have a great working relationship. Personal relationships are not ... an issue, we don't have them and we won't."

With some degree of poetic irony, perhaps Virgin Galactic will host the first verifiable 'rendezvous' in space.  We await news with bated breath.