# Dead Bodies in Space **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292 "2009-06-01T00:01:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/21 "2009-06-01T21:05:52Z")
Gentlemen, please! I am trying to eat here. 😉 What I take away from this is that it is possible (don’t bore me with probabilities) that at some point, a dead, mummified, frozen body could drift past a spaceship window (porthole?). I am now officially squicked out–but also am pondering writing about space zombies of some sort. I had forgotten about the anaerobic bacteria. Could a virus or a prion live in space on a dead body? See how ST can be educational? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/22 "2009-06-01T21:26:17Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Whew! I guess this means no one will convince an aging Arthur C. Clarke to include a resurrected Frank Poole in a 2001 sequel. Tragedy averted! “He’s dead, Jim!” Arthur C. Clarke, that is. No longer aging. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/23 "2009-06-01T22:38:29Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > Joe Blow on the other hand would, I imagine, rapidly cool to whatever the average temp of space is at a 93 million mile remove from the sun. Would the heat produced by the various internal flora be enough to keep the core warm? It seems a bit of a long shot to me. > > We need a volunteer. OP didn’t specify 93 million miles. For all we know the spaceship was orbiting the Earth when it jettisoned the body, so it’s going to have to deal with ~1370W/m^2 of solar heating on one side of the corpse. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/24 "2009-06-01T22:46:30Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Gentlemen, please! I am trying to eat here. 😉 😃 Aren’t you a nurse? I would think you would be asking for pictures. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/25 "2009-06-01T22:51:38Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Gentlemen, please! I am trying to eat here. 😉 > > What I take away from this is that it is possible (don’t bore me with probabilities) that at some point, a dead, mummified, frozen body could drift past a spaceship window (porthole?). > I am now officially squicked out–but also am pondering writing about space zombies of some sort. I had forgotten about the anaerobic bacteria. Could a virus or a prion live in space on a dead body? > > See how ST can be educational? 😃 Okay, this brings up another issue. Say you’re on a starship, enjoying your lunch, when you look out the porthole, and see a dead mummified corpsesicle floating past. When you puke, does the vomit coalesce into a sphere of puke, or does it just hang there in a horizontal column? Or say you’re having lunch and I float past and bring up this question. How long does it take for you to decide to throw _me_ out the airlock? ---
**Author:** ![MeDrewNotYou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/26 "2009-06-01T22:59:15Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Okay, this brings up another issue. Say you’re on a starship, enjoying your lunch, when you look out the porthole, and see a dead mummified corpsesicle floating past. When you puke, does the vomit coalesce into a sphere of puke, or does it just hang there in a horizontal column? > > Or say you’re having lunch and I float past and bring up this question. How long does it take for you to decide to throw _me_ out the airlock? For the first question, I would think it comes out horizontal column-ish, but _eventually_ coalesces into an orb-o-puke. The real question is what happens to the solid bits? Do they stay evenly mixed in or do they sink/rise to the center/surface? To answer the second question, I keep you around because I have the mentality of a ten-year-old boy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/27 "2009-06-01T23:06:51Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#): > > For the first question, I would think it comes out horizontal column-ish, but _eventually_ coalesces into an orb-o-puke. The real question is what happens to the solid bits? Do they stay evenly mixed in or do they sink/rise to the center/surface? Things only sink or rise in a fluid due to the action of some sort of accelerating force, either gravity or something else like rotation or propulsion. In the absence of anything like that, things tend to stay put. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/28 "2009-06-01T23:07:16Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Okay, this brings up another issue. Say you’re on a starship, enjoying your lunch, when you look out the porthole, and see a dead mummified corpsesicle floating past. When you puke, does the vomit coalesce into a sphere of puke, or does it just hang there in a horizontal column? > > Or say you’re having lunch and I float past and bring up this question. How long does it take for you to decide to throw _me_ out the airlock? On MY starship, there is always gravity, so the puke just spews where puke usually does–all over my shoes. As for putting you in the airlock, you’d have to escape the Brig, first! Nurse or no, putrefication is no topic for meal. Arteries hemorrhaging, wounds dehiscing, all those are fine. But I draw the line at dead oozy stuff. Which (with all this loose puke) brings me to another question: did the Enterprise use human cleaning services or did it use robots? Who keeps those hallways so immaculate? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/29 "2009-06-01T23:25:47Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > If your Uncle Floyd’s widow paid for a well-sealed coffin, have him exhumed. Depending on the quality of the seal and how long Floyd’s been buried, you probably don’t want to do this. RUN!! It’s the Return Of The [COOLER OF DEATH](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=177712&page=1&pp=50&highlight=cooler+death)!!! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/30 "2009-06-01T23:33:15Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > “He’s dead, Jim!” Arthur C. Clarke, that is. No longer aging. I don’t think that _whoosh_ is aging, either. ---
**Author:** ![smee\_goan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@smee\_goan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smee_goan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/31 "2009-06-02T00:43:03Z")
Would California ask for forensic tests-if it flew over Cali? Why can’t we all just get along? reminds me of the old joke… > [@](#): > > What do you call an Itallian astronaut? A specimen ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/32 "2009-06-02T00:44:45Z")
I can’t help but think that like the sailing ships of old\*, dead crew members would be jettisoned out from spaceships, leading to any number of dead, dessicated, frozen bodies floating around. And what about at space stations? Would they really use fuel and energy to cremate or bury a body? What would they do–stack them like cordwood somewhere? I wish ST had addressed these troublesome questions… \*whereupon said dead crew were food for the fish. Circle of life and all that. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292/33 "2009-06-02T02:46:01Z")
The problem with dead bodies being tossed out the airlock is that your descendants, hundreds of years from now, might accidentally unleashed the Sealed Evil In a Can that you shot into outer space in hopes that no idiot would unleash a pain elemental into the universe (it hurts). That also makes me wonder if, in the future, [blue ice](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_ice_(aircraft)) will become a problem for space travelers as well. (That would suck hard for whoever’s writing the claim for the insurance company! “Cause of accident: _struck by high-velocity crapsicle_.” :eek:) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-bodies-in-space/498292.md?page=1)