Yes. The International Space Station carries hormonal medications that can be used as birth control, although their primary purpose during spaceflight may be menstrual management rather than pregnancy prevention.
NASA’s January 2026 Pharmaceutical Care technical brief identifies medroxyprogesterone and a combined norgestrel–ethinyl estradiol medication among the pharmaceuticals included in the ISS medication kit. NASA also prepares crew-specific medical kits according to each astronaut’s individual medical needs.
For astronauts who menstruate, hormonal contraception can be used to reduce or suppress periods during long missions. This can simplify the storage and disposal of menstrual products in a spacecraft where mass, storage space, water, and waste-management capacity are limited. Research on medically induced menstrual suppression in astronauts has described the continuous use of oral contraceptives during long-duration missions.
NASA’s April 2025 assessment of venous-thromboembolism risks reported that 10 of the 13 female astronauts who completed ISS expeditions lasting at least six months between 2018 and 2024 used either hormonal oral contraceptives or a hormonal intrauterine device. Most of those astronauts chose a hormonal intrauterine device, and NASA flight surgeons increasingly prescribed lower-risk hormone therapies following the first reported case of venous thrombosis during spaceflight.
Menstrual suppression remains optional. NASA’s spacecraft habitability standards state that mission planners must not assume that an astronaut will suppress menstruation. Spacecraft systems must therefore provide suitable ways to contain and dispose of menstrual waste.
Publicly available NASA materials reviewed as of July 2026, do not establish that condoms or other barrier contraceptives are part of a standard communal ISS inventory. However, the ISS carries hormonal birth-control medications and astronauts may also use implanted contraceptive devices, primarily as individualized medical and menstrual-management measures.
