I read an article this morning about astronauts on the International Space Station. Don’t worry, they’re all healthy and (apparently) covid-free. But it got me to wondering, if one of them dies up there, what do they do with the body? Is there always a return capsule on station, ready for an unscheduled return to earth? Or would they have to store the body for weeks/months in the vacuum of space to stave off decomposition until a return capsule is sent up to them?
Yes. From NASA:
(Sorry about the kid-oriented cite.)
It’d have to be a sudden death, because if any astronaut developed a significant health problem, they’d send them down right away. If it did still kill them, they’d die in a planetside hospital.
And of course, it’d be very surprising if any of them developed Covid-19, because they’re the absolute most quarantined members of the entire species.
If they do develop COVID-19, we might as well end social distancing.
They can’t just send the body back on a Soyuz though, because the remaining astronauts will be left without a way to get home. Each Soyuz needs to carry home 3 astronauts (dead or alive).
If an astronaut is already dead, I think they would just wait a while. Especially when there are only 3 crew members on the station (like right now) and returning the astronauts would leave the station empty. If an astronaut is seriously sick or injured, of course that would be the highest priority and they would come back immediately.
Or increase the distance by a whole lot!
Why not just perform a ceremony, then put the body in some kind of morgue capsule that could be jettisoned? Seems like an awesome way to be cremated.
I guess deceleration would be necessary, but wouldn’t a tiny retro burn followed by a large drogue chute be adequate? I read that even at the ISS height, there’s enough atmospheric drag that they burn 7 tons of fuel a year to maintain height.
If there happens to be a cargo capsule there, sure. The SpaceX Dragon capsule is recovered, so they could actually send the body back on one of those, if one is available. The other resupply capsules burn up on reentry, so those would work for the cremation option. I imagine NASA would want to examine the body though.
If there isn’t a cargo capsule available, I’m not sure how you could do it. There aren’t spare remote-control thrusters lying around on the station, as far as I know. A typical deorbit burn is over 100 mph.
IIRC russians just threw debris out of the space station in a retro-direction. The idea is it would encounter just a bit more drag and burn up sooner, as well as not be a threat to the station. Plus I guess the station would get a slight boost.
To take down a dead body it could require everyone come down, as there always has to be a way home for everyone up there. Also for a medical emergency it could mean the total evacuation of the station for this reason. Death however does not have that same urgency. And while I’m sure there are guidelines I also suspect it would be time for the great minds on the ground to come up with a solution. Perhaps a ‘burial in space’ would be the most appropriate aka Star Trek launching Spock’s body out a torp tube.
It would depend in multiple ways on how the astronaut died. If the astronaut died of some sickness, they would probably want a full autopsy, to determine what exactly was the cause of death, if it’s likely to have been contagious to the other crew members, etc. On the other hand, if they died of some sort of trauma, then the cause of death would be obvious… but then they’d have to ask if whatever accident caused that trauma would also be a risk to the remaining crew members. That might mean shutting down some of the things they’re doing, or it might mean shutting down the whole station and bringing everyone back, depending on what caused the accident.
related : there was a woman Dr. who got cancer at the south pole in their winter (our summer) and she treated herself and they could not fly her out right away. They flew her out as soon as they could which was earlier than they would normally have flights to the south pole.
They could just use a photon torpedo casing.
Actually, a crew of 6 is considered standard for the ISS, and the Soyuz seats 3. So only 3 people need to come down. But sometimes there are only 3, e.g. when a replacement crew launch is delayed. I believe that’s the current situation, due to delays in the Commercial Crew program.
There would be a fight for the deceased’s belongings followed by an unusual increase in meat consumption over the coming days and weeks…
Gynecology seems like an odd choice of specialty for a doctor at the South Pole.
Wouldn’t the home country of the deceased astronaut have a say in the disposition of their remains? There are currently two Americans and a Russian on the ISS, but astronauts from a total of 41 countries have been on the space station. Each country may have their own protocol for handling autopsies and their own funeral and burial custom.
If they had to keep the body for later autopsy and couldn’t return right away, they could put it in the airlock and decompress/open that. That would freeze dry the body and prevent decomposition.
“He’s DEAD, Jim! You grab his wallet; I’ll go through his pockets.”
That avoids a bothersome autopsy and explanations of the traumatic “accident”. Blame autoerotic asphyxiation, not unbearable flatulence.
There still is.
My understanding of the Russian procedure on the Salyut stations was that when the Progress resupply capsules were emptied they were filled with the garbage and left to burn up in the atmosphere.