• Question: how long would you survive in space without a space suit?

    Asked by will to Simon, Julia, Delma, Andrew, Alex on 17 Dec 2015.
    • Photo: Alexander Finch

      Alexander Finch answered on 17 Dec 2015:

      Hmm, my guess is about a minute or two. But not all this time you’d be conscious and able to react to save yourself!

      The lack of pressure would be the first problem. The air would be sucked out of your lungs and the air already in your blood would be “sucked” out! The lack of oxygen would quickly make you feel sleepy, and then you’d go unconscious. Your body would puff up, freeze and get horribly sunburnt all at once – not nice…

      That’s why Julia is making sure we have excellent space suits to keep astronauts healthy up there – I’m sure she has much more info on it 🙂

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