Thursday, June 3, 2010

He Didn't Get All Esplodey!

Proof that people don't explode when exposed to a vacuum. That seems to be one of the hardest to kill myths of space exploration. Though anyone who's seen 2001 knows it's a myth... Sci Fi movies have notoriously bad science, but Clarke and Kubric tried very hard to get it right.

On a serious note, that had to be a scary experience, and he's lucky he didn't sustain more serious injuries. That could have led to burst eardrums, and boiling could cause damage to delicate tissue, like eyes.

1 comment:

Mule Breath said...

There is a short story I recall where a ship in deep space, full of people but lacking pressure suits, had to be abandoned for some reason. There would be a several second gap between adjacent ships as the people crossed open space from airlock to airlock. All but one who panicked survived.

The intent, I'm sure, was to show that possibility of survival in that environment. Unfortunately I don't remember either title or author.

Great video clip. Thanks.