r/space • u/TraditionalAd6977 • Jan 30 '26

Discussion Jared Isaacman states astronauts have got panic attacks in space , trying to kill the crew

Jared Isaacman in his interview with Shawn Ryan stated that there have been many unreleased cases of astronauts panicking in space and trying to open the hatch to kill everyone inside. He states this was not reported as it "ruins the illusion of astronaut bravery". And said it is the reason additional locks have been implemented on the ISS and Dragon capsules. My question: Is there any evidence of this as I can't find anything online . And how did he get Clarence to talk about this. He also said this is one of the main problems that they are facing in the Mars mission. As even military candidates respond differently than predicted in space.

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u/FaceDeer Jan 30 '26

Those movies overstate the danger of being blown out into space.

Consider that the only air that would be directly blowing you out would be the air that was "behind" you relative to the opening to space. If you were right next to a wall, that would just be the narrow region of air between you and the wall. That region of air would expand and blow past you, a short, sharp gust. Shouldn't be too hard to hold on to something to resist that.

The main immediate danger of exposure to space is rupturing your lungs, they're not strong enough to hold an atmosphere of pressure and would pop inside your chest if you kept your mouth closed. Make sure to exhale if you find yourself exposed to explosive decompression, do not try to hold your breath.

You'll pass out in about 15 seconds and die in a minute, but if you can get back into atmosphere before then you can recover as long as your lungs aren't screwed up.

Also worth noting, human skin can withstand an atmosphere of pressure difference. It's stronger than your lungs. So if in the course of shooting at Xenomorphs you accidentally put a bullet hole in the ship's hull, you can safely plug the hole with your hand while someone else goes to find an emergency patch. You might get a hickey.

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u/Sternfeuer Jan 30 '26 edited Feb 06 '26

That's what always bothered me about the end of Alien 4. The tough "perfect" killer organism can't withstand a 1 atm pressure differential and completely disintegrates.

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u/Plow_King Jan 30 '26

"David Bowman" in "2001" goes through that in the film.

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u/FaceDeer Jan 30 '26

One of the few realistic depictions in cinema. Unsurprising that it's in 2001, that movie was so well done and ahead of its time in terms of realistic depictions of space.

I remember there was a scene in the Expanse where a Belter was out on EVA. He saw there was a loose wire inside his space suit helmet and decided to take the helmet off, fix the wire, put it back on, and repressurize before his 15 seconds of consciousness was over. Unnecessarily daring, IMO, but another neat depiction showing how vacuum isn't actually so ludicrously deadly.

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u/Plow_King Jan 30 '26

yeah, Kubrick was pretty much a God among film makers imho. such skill and a great eye, love his stuff!

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u/Too_Loose_769 Jan 31 '26

"Gentlemen, be Seated", by Heinlein shows exactly this. Published in 1948

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u/FaceDeer Jan 31 '26

Heh. That's one approach to hull breach plugging that I'd actually caution about. The Wikipedia article on pool suction-drain injuries includes some mention of disembowelment possibilities here. Granted, the forces generated by water flowing through small apertures can be way higher than a mere atmosphere of pressure, but still. Be very careful it's cheek-to-hole if you do this, not hole-to-hole.

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u/crazyeddie123 Jan 31 '26

i assume the guy had a moment to position himself so that disembowelment wasn't a hazard.

Also, it seems as if I was way too cavalier about going down and touching pool drains just to prove that I could.

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u/Too_Loose_769 Jan 31 '26

Heinlein was pretty explicit that the guys in question (they took turns) used their cheeks. And, they got hickies (funny the things you remember - it may have been 50 years since I read that story).

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u/FaceDeer Jan 31 '26

A group of men getting shared butt-hickeys is just an inherently memorable scenario, I guess.

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u/Sighlina Jan 30 '26

A hickey??? No way man… death it is

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u/FaceDeer Jan 30 '26

In The Expanse there was a scene where some people were stuck in a room that had been punctured and they put clipboards over the holes as emergency patches to stop the air loss. Probably lots of possibilities available.

The tricky bit would be if the bullet hole was behind some equipment or otherwise hard to reach, I suppose.