That article is about what happens when you are thrown into hard vacuum. That’s a very rapid decompression. But if you just open the valve slowly, the cabin will decompress slowly. From what I’ve read, death by asphyxiation is not a particularly unpleasent way to die. It’s the carbon dioxide buildup that gives you the “I can’t breathe!” sensation, not lack of oxygen, so presumably you just pass out peacefully.
By the way, in 1971 the there crew members of Soyuz 11 died in an accident like this, when a faulty valve resulted in decompression of the cabin. Found some details here if you’re interested, though there seem to be no way to tell how painful the deaths were. The crew did notice the leak and tried to close a valve, but couldn’t manage it in time.
I didn’t realize others were growing tired of my Apollo 13 questions.
Wait a minute… I’ve never asked another Apollo 13 question.
Oh well, I can’t argue with all those saying the ‘death pill’ doesn’t exist, especially when you start quoting Jim Lovell and other NASA types. I still think it’s odd that they’d plan for every other scenario but completely ignore the trapped in space one. Personally, I think someone had something planned in such an event, but it’s not like I have any knowledge of it.
Given that, I won’t be as quick to say it exists, but at the same time, I won’t completely dismiss the idea.
Nobody ever said we were tired of Apollo 13 questions. And for the record, by the way, I happened to see the movie last night, and the only pills shown of any sort were aspirin.
I never get tired of that era in space travel! I’ve read every book written by the early astronauts that I could find. Even though they all pretty much say the same thing, it’s still fascinating to see each individual viewpoint on the events described. Anyway, back to the point of what would happen if the astronauts were stranded in space.
This is an ABC News article from a few years back describing a speech that Nixon would have given had the Apollo 11 astronauts been stranded on the moon. The article states that this speech would have been read while the astronauts were still alive, but stranded beyond all hope. After the speech, communications would have been severed (presumably so the astronauts could kill themselves in peace) and a clergyman would have performed a service similar to a burial at sea. Interestingly enough, this article makes reference to the “suicide pill” the astronauts were rumored to be carrying. Harrison H. Schmitt , who flew on Apollo 17 makes the following quote…
From what I’ve gleaned from NASA’s website and the news sources, NASA doesn’t have much in the way of a “final solution” for stranded astronauts. When all hope is lost, say something appropriate and leave it to the astronauts to be creative. However, I suspect that NASA would rather not admit defeat and would continue working for a solution right up to the point the astronauts actually die.
Wow! That’s even more frightening than the notion of a death pill. Get 'em up there and ask them to do a bunch of stuff, and if they run into a problem that can’t be fixed, just cut the connection with them and forget they were ever there.
I firmly believe US astronauts were never issued suicide pills. Early astronauts were all test pilots. Test pilots were not the sort who would worry too much about a painful death. And as others have pointed out, there is no place easier to ‘punch out’ than space. For this reason I doubt the Russians ever bothered with them either.
All US rockets, manned or unmanned, have self-destruct charges in case of a launch malfunction. The only manned mission where they were used was Challenger. After it exploded the SRBs (which continued flying) were destroyed with them. This is purely for the safety of the ground dwelling public. The crew on-board has absolutely no control over them, nor would they ever be used to ‘mercifully euthanise’ a stranded crew.
Suicide pills are never mentioned in the film Apollo 13. Lovell discredits their existence in the book (which BTW, was called Lost Moon).
Any chance you’re remembering a story about Francis Gary Powers? Powers was carrying a lethal pin hidden in a coin, provided by the CIA, when his U2 was shot down over Russia. It was flourished at his show trial, and Powers put a picture of it in his autobiograpgy.
Maybe this is the link between astronauts and poison pills.
Since you mention Powers, it should be mentioned that (at least, according to his autobiography), it was left to his discression whether to use the poison. He was under no orders to use it, and in fact was advised by his superiors that if he were interrogated he should just tell everything.