Welcome to the latest installment of “Writer Fuel – cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration. Today:
Imagine you’re an astronaut exploring the vast expanses of space and — uh oh! — you’re accidentally thrown out of your spacecraft’s airlock. What would happen to your body if it were exposed to the vacuum of space if you weren’t wearing a spacesuit?
The first thing to note is that many Hollywood depictions of this scenario are overblown. They show people, unprotected by helmets or spacesuits, exploding or instantly freezing to death. In reality, the effects would be the same, but less exaggerated.
An astronaut floating without a suit in space wouldn’t survive, but their demise would happen within minutes, not within seconds, and it would be a gnarly exit, with boiling bodily fluids and a nearly frozen nose and mouth.
