Researchers are studying the effects of spaceflight on the human body by placing women in waterbeds for five days.

Scientists in Toulouse, France are carrying out a “dry immersion” study on 20 women by putting them in bathtub-like containers, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). The idea behind the project is to recreate the weightlessness of space.

The tanks are filled with water which is covered with waterproof fabric to keep the volunteers dry – making them incredibly like the waterbeds that were a mainstay of the 'eighties batchelor-pad.

The ESA hopes to better understand what weightlessness does to female astronauts’ bodies when they are on missions.

As of March 2021, 65 women have flown in space, including cosmonauts, astronauts, payload specialists, and space station participants.

The first woman in space was Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who flew on Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963. The first American woman in space, Sally Ride, flew aboard the Space Shuttle STS-7 in June of 1983.

“There is almost no knowledge about the physiological and psychological effects on women in this research area. An all-female dry immersion study will add to previous male campaigns ran in Europe and Russia,” said ESA’s lead for life sciences Angelique Van Omberge.

The women taking part in the study will have their legs and torso completely immobilised, while their arms and head are free to move around above the fabric. They will spend nearly 24 hours a day in the tank, though they are allowed to clean themselves “while lying on their backs and with their head tilted six degrees down to minimise fluid shifts,” said the ESA.

At first I thought five days lying on a waterbed sounded rather nice...but this is a nope from me.