Pop quiz: Who was the first woman to have her menstruation in space?

Not your typical trivia question but an important one for the future of long distance space voyages such as those scheduled to land on Mars one or two decades from now.

The answer to the trivia question is probably Dr. Margaret Rhea Seddon, an American astronaut who flew on three space shuttle missions from 1985 to 1993. She lived on the International Space Station (ISS) for 30 days.

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She probably had that historic menstruation from April 12 to 19, 1985 during her first mission to the ISS. It was her first space flight and she spent 168 hours on the ISS before returning to Earth.

And was menstruation in space different from that on Earth? Dr. Seddon said the answer is, No.

Dr. Seddon noted that before she was first sent into space, the menstruation question was a problem that vexed NASA doctors. Menstruation, she said, was one of the unknowns in space exploration.

"A lot of people predicted retrograde flow of menstrual blood, and it would get out in your abdomen, get peritonitis and horrible things would happen," Dr. Seddon said to Medical Daily.

"All the women were going, 'I don't think so.' But you couldn't prove it or disprove it."

Then comes the question of menstrual suppression. This means adjusting the menstrual cycle via hormonal contraception. This enables women to have less frequent periods and avoid bleeding at inconvenient times, which seems convenient for female astronauts in space.

For short duration missions, NASA has found that menstrual cycles can to be timed to mission dates. Menstrual suppression might be preferable for long space missions but some scientists believe this won't be that much of a problem since modern feminine hygiene products are more than up to the task.

A study by researchers at King's College London and Baylor College of Medicine, however, argued that menstrual suppression might be the preferred choice for female astronauts on longer space voyages (such as the nine month trip to Mars) or who spend a longer time aboard the ISS.

During long stays on the ISS, some female astronauts have taken combined oral contraceptive (COC) pills to deter menstrual flow. Another option is the so-called long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs).

This class includes IUDs and beneath-the-skin implants and appears to be a safe and reliable method of menstrual suppression, said a menstruation in space study Dr. Virginia Wotring, senior author and assistant professor at Baylor's Center for Space Medicine and her co-author Dr. Varsha Jain.

Tagsmenstruation, menstruation in space, Dr. Margaret Rhea Seddon, NASA, International Space Station, ISS