The Conversation (0)
Ellie Abraham
Apr 19, 2021
Space travel is still a relatively new phenomenon and all the machinery and equipment required to actually do it without perishing are costly but vital.
With an otherwise unsurvivable atmosphere in space, you may have been wondering, while watching films like Gravity and The Martian, what would actually happen if an astronaut’s suit or helmet was punctured?
Well, thanks to a recent video byPopular Science, you need wonder no more as they explained all the gory details.
The narrator explains that the death of anyone on the International Space Station (ISS) would most likely occur because of an accident while on a spacewalk outside of the station.
In the event that an astronaut was hit by a micrometeorite (a small spherical meteorite) that pierced their suit, they would have around 15 seconds before they became unconscious.
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Before their body freezes, they would most likely die from “asphyxiation or decompression”.
Next, they explain: “10 seconds of exposure to the vacuum of space would force the water in their skin and blood to vaporise while their body expanded outward like a balloon.”
Not only would their lungs collapse, but after 30 seconds they would be paralysed if they’re not already dead.
The video also touches on the point of storage of a dead astronaut, which would likely either be kept in the coldest part of the ISS (where they currently store rubbish), or in an airlock, until it could be returned to Earth.
To date, three people have died while past the Earth’s atmosphere - far more have died attempting to reach space in rocket explosions.
Interestingly, at the time of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, a speech had been prepared for president Richard Nixon in the event that Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong didn’t make it back.