If Someone Dies In Space, What Happens To The Body? NASA Protocol Says...

As space travel becomes more common, so does the possibility that someone might die along the way.

Houston: There's no question that sending human beings to space is an extraordinarily difficult and perilous proposition. Since human space exploration began just over 60 years ago, 20 people have died – 14 in the NASA space shuttle tragedies of 1986 and 2003, three cosmonauts during the 1971 Soyuz 11 mission, and three astronauts in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire in 1967.

Given how complicated human spaceflight is, it's actually remarkable how few people have lost their lives so far. But NASA plans to send a crew to the Moon in 2025 and astronauts to Mars in the next decade. Commercial spaceflight is becoming routine. As space travel becomes more common, so does the possibility that someone might die along the way.

It brings to mind a gloomy but necessary question to ask: If someone dies in space – what happens to the body?

Death on the Moon and Mars As a space medical doctor who works to find new ways to keep astronauts healthy, I and my team at the Translational Research Institute for Space Health want to make sure space explorers are as healthy as they can be for space missions.

Here is how death in space would be handled today: If someone died on a low-Earth-orbit mission – such as aboard the International Space Station – the crew could return the body to Earth in a capsule within a matter of hours.

If it happened on the Moon, the crew could return home with the body in just a few days. NASA already has detailed protocols in place for such events.

Because of that quick return, it's likely that preservation of the body would not be NASA's major concern; instead, the No. 1 priority would be making sure the remaining crew returns safely to Earth.

Things would be different if an astronaut died during the 300 million-mile trip to Mars.

In that scenario, the crew probably wouldn't be able to turn around and go back. Instead, the body would likely return to Earth along with the crew at the end of the mission, which would be a couple of years later.

In the meantime, the crew would presumably preserve the body in a separate chamber or specialized body bag. The steady temperature and humidity inside the space vehicle would theoretically help preserve the body.

But all those scenarios would apply only if someone died in a pressurized environment, like a space station or a spacecraft.

What would happen if someone stepped outside into space without the protection of a spacesuit?

The astronaut would die almost instantly. The loss of pressure and the exposure to the vacuum of space would make it impossible for the astronaut to breathe, and blood and other body fluids would boil.

What would happen if an astronaut stepped out onto the Moon or Mars without a spacesuit?

The Moon has nearly no atmosphere – a very tiny amount. Mars has a very thin atmosphere, and almost no oxygen. So the result would be about the same as exposure to open space: suffocation and boiling blood.

What about burial? Suppose the astronaut died after landing, while on the surface of Mars.

Cremation isn't desirable; it requires too much energy that the surviving crew needs for other purposes. And burial isn't a good idea, either. Bacteria and other organisms from the body could contaminate the Martian surface. Instead, the crew would likely preserve the body in a specialized body bag until it could be returned to Earth.

There are still many unknowns about how explorers would deal with a death. It's not just the question of what to do with the body. Helping the crew deal with the loss, and helping the grieving families back on Earth, are just as important as handling the remains of the person who died. But to truly colonize other worlds – whether the Moon, Mars or a planet outside our solar system – this grim scenario will require planning and protocols.

Author: Emmanuel Urquieta, Professor of Space Medicine and Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine

Disclosure statement: Emmanuel Urquieta is supported by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health

Vladimir Komarov feels left out: Cosmonaut Crashed Into Earth 'Crying In Rage'.

(His was the most tragically preventable death of all. So, so many cowards in that system. It was even worse than the Challenger-era NASA.)

The count is 21.

If Someone Dies In Space, What Happens To The Body? NASA Protocol Says...

The Rolling Stones is a 1952 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein.

In this excerpt he sort of answers the question.

“Pipe down!” Without waiting for them to comply he stood up and grasped each of them by the scruff of his jacket. Luna's one-sixth gravity permitted him to straight-arm them both; he held them high up off the floor and wide apart. They struggled helplessly, unable to reach anything.
“Listen to me,” he ordered. “Up to now I hadn't quite decided whether to let you two wild men go along or not. But now my mind's made up.” There was a short silence from the two, then Pollux said mournfully, “You mean we don't go?”
“I mean you do go. You need a taste of strict ship's discipline a durn sight more than you need to go to school; these modern schools aren't tough enough for the likes of you. I mean to run a taut ship – prompt, cheerful obedience, on the bounce! Or I throw the book at you. Understand me? Castor?”
“Uh, yes, sir.” “Pollux?”
“Ayeaye,sir!”
“See that you remember it. Pull a fast-talk like that on me when we're in space and I'll stuff you down each other's throat.” He cracked their heads together smartly and threw them away.
The next day, on the way back from the field with the old gaskets, the twins stopped for a few minutes at the city library. They spent the four days they had to wait boning up on space law. They found it rather sobering reading, particularly the part which asserted that a commanding officer in space, acting independently, may and must maintain his authority against any who might attempt to usurp or dispute it. Some of the cited cases were quite grisly. They read of a freighter captain who, in his capacity as chief magistrate, had caused a mutineer to be shoved out an airlock, there to rupture his lungs in the vacuum of space, drown in his own blood.
Pollux made a face. “Grandpa,” he inquired, “how would you like to be spaced?” “No future in it. Thin stuff, vacuum. Low vitamin content”
“Maybe we had better be careful not to irritate Dad. This “captain” pose has gone to his head.”
“It's no pose. Once we raise ship it's legal as church on Sunday. But Dad won't space us, no matter what we do.”
“Don't count on it. Dad is a very tough hombre when he forgets that he's a loving father” “Junior, you worry too much.”
“So? When you feel the pressure drop remember what I said.”

The Midshipmen also reveals what to look forward to if you are an unruly hand in deep space.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.