The space it is an unexplored site for the common man. Only a handful of lucky people have had the good fortune to cross the borders of the atmosphere. Therefore, it is normal that there are more questions than answers about it. Like, for example, what happens to an astronaut’s body if she takes off her suit on an outside mission.
Science fiction has made it clear to us the final consequence of carrying out this dangerous action: death. But what the process would be like is what leaves us with the most doubts.
The cinema has shown us everything. Homer and Bart while their heads are inflated is one of the examples that first comes to mind. The frozen bodies in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy It is another of the scenarios that showed what happens to the unprotected body in space.
What’s really going on? Here’s what NASA experts say, according to a review by The Republic.
The astronaut without a suit in space
The air we breathe has a weight within the planet, which can vary depending on the altitude at which we are. This is known as atmospheric pressure. This phenomenon, subject to gravity, means that the functioning of the organs is not affected.
This is why some people suffer when subjected to different atmospheric pressures than they are used to. A common example is someone who visits regions that are in mountains 4 thousand meters high.
In the atmosphere there is no atmospheric pressure because there is no protective layer that we have on Earth. So, an astronaut’s body unprotected by the conditions offered by the suit causes the body to undergo complex conditions.
The organs and tissues of our body are made up of water, and consequently, in space it would begin to boil and form bubbles in a matter of moments, causing blood circulation to fail.
“Essentially, all the tissues in your body that hold water will start to expand. No human being can survive this; death is likely in less than two minutes,” explained Kris Lehnhardt, an element scientist in NASA’s Human Research Program.