In the movie 2001,is that possible,ejecting without a helmet,then entering his spacecraft,???

Question

if you didnt see it,a guy was stuck in his small space craft and needed to get in his mothership but he didnt have a helmet,so he ejected out and went in,he was out about 2 seconds untill he entered,could he have lived???

Answer 1

Yup.

But 2001 was NOT filmed on location.

Answer 2

It was longer than 2 seconds.

No your brain won't explode but the explosive decompression will most likely knock the air out of your lungs.

I don't know what effect an explosive decompression will have on your eyes and ears though I think is not a pleasurable experience.

Realistically it would have taken Bowman close to 30 secs to complete the maneuver.  By that time he would've passed out.

Any volunteers to try that out at the ISS?

Answer 3

certainly

nasty things happen to you during explosive decompression, but nothing you cant live through.

Answer 4

Yeah, that's just barely possible. It's not the recommended entry procedure, but what choice did he have? In real life, of course, no astronaut would EVER leave the ship without helmet and gloves, regardless of the emergency.

Answer 5

According to real events, yes. Very likely. One NASA worker got caught inside a vacuum chamber and survived a nearly full vacuum.

"At NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (now renamed Johnson Space Center) we had a test subject accidentally exposed to a near vacuum (less than 1 psi) [7 kPa] in an incident involving a leaking space suit in a vacuum chamber back in '65. He remained conscious for about 14 seconds, which is about the time it takes for O2 deprived blood to go from the lungs to the brain. The suit probably did not reach a hard vacuum, and we began repressurizing the chamber within 15 seconds. The subject regained consciousness at around 15,000 feet [4600 m] equivalent altitude. The subject later reported that he could feel and hear the air leaking out, and his last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil."

So, if you are fast enough, you can survive this, but it will be a very stressful experience for your body. Also, you have to remember: Your life depends on seconds of time.

In the movie, it was also assumed that the atmosphere cloud from the cabin helped the astronaut a bit, but this effect should be pretty limited. You have only about 14 seconds to get into the airlock and lock the door. (I think you can actually stop the time in 2001 to find it is accurate and possible, but I must admit, I just bought the DVD yesterday and always managed to fall asleep before this scene came, when I was only able to watch it in TV)

With current airlock designs, which require lots of physical work and long times to restore pressure, this would be impossible.

PS: Forget all nonsense of your eyes popping out or your body exploding. That will never happen in space. Your skin can take much worse punishment as just a vacuum. But you will develop frost bite or sun burn or both quickly.

Answer 6

not for very long

Answer 7

Yes

Is there a new "body in vacuum" craze?

I think this is the 10th question about this in the last 3 days...

Answer 8

not unless there was a force field holding his atmosphere in he would have exploded in about a half second.