# Vacuum of Space **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 5, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787 "2012-03-05T05:29:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nelsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Nelsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nelsen)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/1 "2012-03-05T05:29:49Z")
This week I enjoyed rereading STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #3 — 03/22/1991. If you were thrown into the vacuum of space with no space suit, would you explode? And the answer is in brief, “no.” Still one can’t resist conjuring the image of someone exploding in space. It is probably one of the few great scientific incorrect scenes from the 1981 movie, “Outland.” Yes, I know the explosion occurs within the spacesuit. You can see this moment at youtube in the 7th minute of the clip: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-J8mOOtS7XI/hqdefault.jpg "Outland Intro") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J8mOOtS7XI) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/2 "2012-03-05T23:32:33Z")
Link to column: [If you were thrown into the vacuum of space with no space suit, would you explode? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/711/if-you-were-thrown-into-the-vacuum-of-space-with-no-space-suit-would-you-explode) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/3 "2012-03-07T18:20:00Z")
People explode on Mars’s surface - in very little atmosphere, but not no atmosphere - in _Total Recall_, as well. BTW, “eardrums” is misspelled in the article’s third paragraph. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/4 "2012-03-07T18:42:10Z")
In _Farscape_, to its credit, John Crichton jumped without a suit between two ships, spending about a minute in vacuum-he survived, tho just barely. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/5 "2012-03-07T19:30:38Z")
On the other hand, Tim Robbins’s character died unrealistically quickly when exposed to vacuum in _Mission to Mars_. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/6 "2012-03-10T13:23:11Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > In _Farscape_, to its credit, John Crichton jumped without a suit between two ships, spending about a minute in vacuum-he survived, tho just barely. This was the basis of a Robert Heinlein short story, if I recall correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/7 "2012-03-10T22:01:58Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > This was the basis of a Robert Heinlein short story, if I recall correctly. I don’t recall any Heinlein story to that effect. Any other details? There is something like that in Arthur C. Clarke’s novel “Earthlight”. A bunch of people rescued from a ship by transferring through vacuum to another. Only one death (panic kills) IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/8 "2012-03-11T01:24:47Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > There is something like that in Arthur C. Clarke’s novel “Earthlight”. A bunch of people rescued from a ship by transferring through vacuum to another. Only one death (panic kills) IIRC. And of course Clarke reused the concept in\* 2001\*. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/9 "2012-03-11T01:50:28Z")
As I posted last year in my thread about meeting Keir Dullea, star of _2001: A Space Odyssey_: The most difficult shot of Dullea’s was Bowman being blown out of the back of the pod into the airlock, simulating explosive decompression. He had to do the shot himself, since his character didn’t have his helmet. The camera was actually at the bottom of the vertically-oriented airlock set, and he was on a piano wire attached to a harness. A huge, very strong stuntman had measured the exact length of the wire so that Dullea would reach the bottom of the set but not hit the camera. Dullea jumped down towards the camera as the stuntman, on belay with the other end of the wire, an instant later jumped (off camera) from the same platform. The wire was tied to a heavy rope knotted in several places. As the stuntman fell he let the rope slip through his hands and caught it and then released it again at each knot, so that Bowman appeared to be shot into the airlock, then sail away, then shoot back towards the camera, and then away again. A low-tech but clever solution to a tricky sfx shot. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/10 "2012-03-11T21:29:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > As I posted last year in my thread about meeting Keir Dullea, star of _2001: A Space Odyssey_: > > The most difficult shot of Dullea’s was Bowman being blown out of the back of the pod into the airlock, simulating explosive decompression. He had to do the shot himself, since his character didn’t have his helmet. The camera was actually at the bottom of the vertically-oriented airlock set, and he was on a piano wire attached to a harness. A huge, very strong stuntman had measured the exact length of the wire so that Dullea would reach the bottom of the set but not hit the camera. Dullea jumped down towards the camera as the stuntman, on belay with the other end of the wire, an instant later jumped (off camera) from the same platform. The wire was tied to a heavy rope knotted in several places. As the stuntman fell he let the rope slip through his hands and caught it and then released it again at each knot, so that Bowman appeared to be shot into the airlock, then sail away, then shoot back towards the camera, and then away again. A low-tech but clever solution to a tricky sfx shot. _ **A+** _ Way cool (and very interesting) information! Thanks for sharing that experience with us, **Elendil’s Heir**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/11 "2012-03-11T22:23:25Z")
My pleasure. Here’s the thread, if you want to read more: [I met Keir Dullea tonight! - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=616628) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vacuum-of-space/614787/12 "2012-03-12T02:50:37Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > > > This was the basis of a Robert Heinlein short story, if I recall correctly. > > I don’t recall any Heinlein story to that effect. Any other details? > > There is something like that in Arthur C. Clarke’s novel “Earthlight”. A bunch of people rescued from a ship by transferring through vacuum to another. Only one death (panic kills) IIRC. > [@JRDelirious](#): > > And of course Clarke reused the concept in\* 2001\*. Whoops - not a Heinlein, but yet another Clarke bit, this time a short story: [_Take a Deep Breath_](http://www.helium.com/items/1530978-short-story-review-take-a-deep-breath-by-arthur-c-clarke), published in 1957, in between _Earthlight_ (1955) and _2001_ (1968). he appears to have liked the theme.