Memoirs of a Spacewoman

Memoirs of a Spacewoman, Naomi Mitchison, Berkley Books, 1962

These are the memoirs of a woman who becomes an intergalactic explorer and communicator with alien species in the far future. It's an exciting profession, but a major drawback is that the distances involved require the crew to be in stasis while in transit. It leads to what's called time blackout, where the subjective period of time for the explorer is much less than the time elapsed back on earth.

Between expeditions, Mary, the woman, has children by several different males. Before going on the next expedition, mothers are expected to stay on earth for at least a year of what's called "stabilization."

Mary meets some interesting beings while exploring. She mediates between a race of innocent caterpillars being telepathically bullied with feelings of shame and unworthiness by a race of butterflies. Among her fellow explorers are Martians who can become either sex, and communicate using sex organs. One of Mary's children comes about through such "communication."

This is a case of a story with some interesting pieces being covered up by very dry, unemotional writing (as, I guess, is customary in memoirs).