In 2027, Virgin Galactic's suborbital flight will host the first scientific study of menstruation in microgravity conditions. The initiative comes from the nonprofit organization Operation Period, founded by young researchers.

Mission objective

The Operation Period-01 (OP-01) mission aims to collect the first scientific data on how menstruation occurs in space. Currently, astronauts typically suppress their cycles entirely using hormonal means, as there is virtually no data on how microgravity affects this process.

Operation Period's co-founder and executive director, Manju Bangalore, who will also undergo training as a research astronaut, said that she wants all menstruating people to be able to live with full dignity and reach their maximum potential, and that this applies to astronauts as well.

Why this matters

The lack of data creates challenges both for planning long-duration missions (including flights to the Moon and Mars) and for resource allocation. Additionally, the results obtained will help improve menstrual health research on Earth.

Bangalore emphasized that while available data, though limited, suggests it is generally safe to menstruate, there is no quantitative data for long-duration missions.

Historical context

The Operation Period initiative is partly inspired by the famous 1983 episode when NASA asked astronaut Sally Ride whether she needed 100 tampons for a six-day flight. Almost 46 years have passed since then, yet no systematic research on menstruation in space has been conducted.

Plans and prospects

As part of the suborbital flight, the team will collect preliminary data. In the future, Operation Period plans to conduct research on orbital missions as well, in order to accumulate more comprehensive statistics.

Bangalore expressed hope that they will continue iterating on this research so they can conduct future suborbital and orbital flights to create larger datasets.

In brief

In 2027, Virgin Galactic's suborbital flight will host the first scientific study of menstruation in microgravity conditions. The Operation Period-01 mission, organized by the nonprofit Operation Period, aims to collect data that is currently almost nonexistent. This is an important step for planning long-duration space missions and improving understanding of women's health both in space and on Earth.