What exactly happens to the human body in space?

Question

I know that we can't survive in a vacuum because we need the pressure of the atmosphere to survive. But what happens to us in space? How long could an astronaut survive outside the shuttle with no space suit?

Don't be put off by answer 2 I think it is. The long one. I checked the link and I'd regard that as plagarism. Go ahead and answer my question.

Sorry I meant answer 4. Eri or something.

Answer 1

about 15 seconds......read this link
http://www.slate.com/id/2171522/nav/tap3/

Answer 2

We don't need pressure but oxygen. Even with oxygen an astronaut would not survive without space suit due to the temperature.
There is no gravity in space so we would just float away if not tethered to something.
Also, astronauts exercise in space to keep their muscles in shape otherwise it would be difficult to return to earth where there is gravity and muscles are needed to move around.

Answer 3

If you don't try to hold your breath, exposure to space for half a minute or so is unlikely to produce permanent injury. Holding your breath is likely to damage your lungs, something scuba divers have to watch out for when ascending, and you'll have eardrum trouble if your Eustachian tubes are badly plugged up, but theory predicts -- and animal experiments confirm -- that otherwise, exposure to vacuum causes no immediate injury. You do not explode. Your blood does not boil. You do not freeze. You do not instantly lose consciousness.

Various minor problems (sunburn, possibly "the bends", certainly some [mild, reversible, painless] swelling of skin and underlying tissue) start after ten seconds or so. At some point you lose consciousness from lack of oxygen. Injuries accumulate. After perhaps one or two minutes, you're dying. The limits are not really known.

You do not explode and your blood does not boil because of the containing effect of your skin and circulatory system. You do not instantly freeze because, although the space environment is typically very cold, heat does not transfer away from a body quickly. Loss of consciousness occurs only after the body has depleted the supply of oxygen in the blood. If your skin is exposed to direct sunlight without any protection from its intense ultraviolet radiation, you can get a very bad sunburn.

At NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (now renamed Johnson Space Center) we had a test subject accidentally exposed to a near vacuum (less than 1 psi) in an incident involving a leaking space suit in a vacuum chamber back in '65. He remained conscious for about 14 seconds, which is about the time it takes for O2 deprived blood to go from the lungs to the brain. The suit probably did not reach a hard vacuum, and we began repressurizing the chamber within 15 seconds. The subject regained consciousness at around 15,000 feet equivalent altitude. The subject later reported that he could feel and hear the air leaking out, and his last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil.

Aviation Week and Space Technology (02/13/95) printed a letter by Leonard Gordon which reported another vacuum-packed anecdote:

"The experiment of exposing an unpressurized hand to near vacuum for a significant time while the pilot went about his business occurred in real life on Aug. 16, 1960. Joe Kittinger, during his ascent to 102,800 ft (19.5 miles) in an open gondola, lost pressurization of his right hand. He decided to continue the mission, and the hand became painful and useless as you would expect. However, once back to lower altitudes following his record-breaking parachute jump, the hand returned to normal."

Answer 4

I hate leaving links to explain answers but this guy has a mouthful to say and its very pertinent to your question.

I give this link's read three thumbs up!!!
Check it out
http://www.sff.net/people/geoffrey.landis/vacuum.html
(the guy that wrote it is not only a sci fi writer, but an employee for NASA as well, so I take him as legit instead of just a fictional writer.

like he brings up in the link.
NASA doesn't throw astronauts out into space without a space suit so its hard to predict the results.

Answer 5

Apart from pressure, if you went into space without a spacesuit, you would suffocate because of the lack of oxygen, since it's all being pulled towards planets from the gravity.

Answer 6

It depends on the thickness of his skin, not only around his testicles.

If you don't find this a satisfactory answer, consider Eri's answer as an alternative.

Answer 7

Actually he can't, but lets assume that there was no vaccum, then firstly he would freeze instantly and die in a fraction of seconds due to the outside temperature, he wouldn't of have oxygen either, etc.

There are several consequences, just think about them.

Answer 8

Space oydessy 2001 yo!

When sal go's crazy and starts killing everyone on the ship....he cuts of some guys oxygen and throws him off in space, he seems normal, just dead.

or that other movie with arnold swarchinager he's on mars, and he try's to make oxygen on the planet, though he's in space and his head is going to exsplode...good movies.

Answer 9

The pressure caused in space affects the blood in your body, raising your blood pressure. At about 9.1 PSI, your blood basically "boils" which is fatal.