Has anyone actually died in space?

[Deleted]

I ask, I mean that must be a pretty horrible death, all your blood boiled, all moisture evaporated etc and then you inflate like a balloon!


:/

How can space suits protect you from such things anyway.

[Adam Jensen]

Space suits are pressurized and sealed. But I don't think anyone has died in space. I don't think anyone's been spaced yet.

[Pfeff]

There were several Russian missions that went undocumented. Over the course of the space race, many photos were edited and re-released having the people who disappeared removed from the photos. There are some intercepted radio transmissions somewhere I'm sure you can find online of people burning to death inside the capsule while in orbit, so I'm sure there have been some "undocumented" deaths that fall under your question

[Deleted]

Both of those questions are answered in seconds using a quick google search.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._and_incidents

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_suit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_exposure

[Deleted]

There were several Russian missions that went undocumented. Over the course of the space race, many photos were edited and re-released having the people who disappeared removed from the photos. There are some intercepted radio transmissions somewhere I'm sure you can find online of people burning to death inside the capsule while in orbit, so I'm sure there have been some "undocumented" deaths that fall under your question

0_0 I am not sure you can find that online but....can you search for me?

[Sam the Wiser]

None that I know of but I'm sure there are some cover ups.

[allay]

0_0 I am not sure you can find that online but....can you search for me?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts

[Belloc]

^
Not to mention a variety of animals that have died in space, such as Laika.

[Deleted]

"The crew of Soyuz 11 were killed after undocking from space station Salyut 1 after a three-week stay. A cabin vent valve accidentally opened at service module separation. The recovery team found the crew dead. Technically these are the only fatalities in space (above 100 km) so far."

[Varlin99]

Pretty sure you freeze to death before any of those things will happen. Just going off memory though if someone wants to look it up.

[Sam the Wiser]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts

Wikipedia always learning something new!

[Deleted]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts

But not actual sound files. :P

But interesting though..... crazy..

---------- Post added 2013-02-01 at 08:17 PM ----------

Pretty sure you freeze to death before any of those things will happen. Just going off memory though if someone wants to look it up.

No...you will freeze after several hours, you will have cooled down then.

[Vereesa]

This video does a pretty good job of explaining what would happen.

[Mihalik]

This video does a pretty good job of explaining what would happen.

I love when someone can talk with so much enthusiasm about decompression and dry freez mumification of the human body.

Can you just imagine the dinner conversations with this guy? (I'm serious, I love this dude.)

[Sayl]

You have to be really careful when researching Soviet cosmonaut accidents because myths and misconceptions abound. Yes, the USSR did try to cover some things up (and other secrets probably remain hidden), but the truth is usually distorted significantly thanks to widespread conspiracy claims. James Oberg has written extensively on the subject and his research is meticulous -- anyone wanting to delve into the subject should really use his works as a primary source.

Even NPR screwed up on this topic recently (original article; follow-up with corrections).

[shise]

Both of those questions are answered in seconds using a quick google search.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._and_incidents

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_suit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_exposure

No, not really. That's wikipedia, don't trust 100% of it as it's based on the "official" reports.

It's kind of hard to know since we don't really have a clue about the missions on the space (no, they don't tell us all which I can understand)
But my guess is that none died in the space since the equipment is pretty much the best technology out there.

[Pfeff]

Pretty sure you freeze to death before any of those things will happen. Just going off memory though if someone wants to look it up.

You would be lucky for that to happen. It would be much more painful that freezing, and freezing would definitely be the last of your worries if you suit leaks. You would probably inflate to twice your normal size before you even had the chance to freeze

[Sayl]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts

There's an episode of Skeptoid devoted to this very topic.

[Sevyvia]

I ask, I mean that must be a pretty horrible death, all your blood boiled, all moisture evaporated etc and then you inflate like a balloon!


:/

How can space suits protect you from such things anyway.

1. You wouldn't inflate like a balloon. Your connective tissue and skin keep this from happening.
2. Your blood would not boil since it's part of an enclosed system, and wouldn't be directly exposed to the vacuum.
3. Freezing to death. There's very little to absorb your heat in space, so you wouldn't freeze.
4. The vaccum would pull the air out of your lungs, stomach and... Intestines. After 15 seconds your brain would no longer receive air and you'd black out pretty fast.
5. The lack of pressure in space would cause the blood vessels on your surface skin to break (Especially those in your eyes) and any body fluids (Spit, snot, whatever) exposed to vacuum -would- boil simply from your body heat.

Basically, you wouldn't die from cold, blood boiling (Asphyxiation kills you far before this becomes a factor), evaporation or blowing up like a balloon, but you'd die from the lack of oxygen to breathe. Boring, I know, but also true. Should you somehow survive all this you'd also have a legendary sunburn unless protected in some way.

[Pfeff]

0_0 I am not sure you can find that online but....can you search for me?

I actually found something from the Science channel that dramatizes the radio transmissions I was talking about before

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtOthaqmB3Y

It could be way off, but I trust the Science channel

Wait a minute, that's the wrong video, I'll get the second part in a second

Here's Part Two http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1X-N7U11MY the one that talks about the people (around 4 minutes)