Show notes
In the climax of the groundbreaking 1968 science fiction film 2001: a Space Odyssey, astronaut Dave Bowman, the sole survivor of an ill-fated mission to Jupiter, finds himself locked out of his spacecraft by the psychotic computer HAL-9000. Though temporarily safe inside his EVA pod, having forgotten to put a helmet on his spacesuit - whoopsie-doodle - Bowman cannot even use the emergency airlock and faces a slow, agonizing death from suffocation. But for Bowman, as for so many astronauts, failure is simply not an option, so he resorts to drastic measures to get back aboard his ship. After using the remote manipulators on his pod to open the airlock door, he backs the pod hatch up to the opening, takes a deep breath, and fires the hatch’s explosive bolts, launching himself into the vacuum of space. What follows is one of the most extraordinary sequences ever put to film as Bowman bounces weightlessly around the airlock, nearly drifting back out into space before finally grabbing hold of the control panel, closing the outer door, and re-pressurizing the compartment. Safely back aboard Discovery, he finds a spare helmet and makes a beeline for HAL’s central processor where, in yet another iconic scene, he methodically lobotomizes the computer as it begs for mercy and sings an eerie, distorted version of ‘Daisy Bell.’
The director and cowriter of 2001, Stanley Kubrick, was a notorious perfectionist, and went to great lengths to ensure that not only the moon landings looked real, including going so far as insisting they be filmed on location, but also that this sci-fi epic was as scientifically and technically accurate as possible. But could Dave Bowman have actually survived such an unprotected sojourn into outer space? Or would he have frozen solid, his blood boiled, or even his body exploded as gruesomely depicted in so many other films like Total Recall, Gravity, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. II?
Well strap on your space suit, or don’t, you do you- as we explore what actually happens if you were to venture unprotected into the final frontier, which it turns out is VERY different from what most people think. Along the way we’re going to learn a lot of interesting things about breathing, airplane and fighter pilot oxygenation, including how to get your spouse to conk out in a plane if you’re the pilot, that time a NASA astronaut accidentally poked a hole in his suit while on a space walk and NASA’s humorous reaction, and in the end the surprisingly long time you can survive in space without a space suit with no long term damage.
Author: Gilles Messier
Editor/Host: Daven Hiskey
Producer: Samuel Avila
0:00 Intro
3:00 Pressure and Breathing and the Armstrong Limit
7:42 Exposed to the Vacuum
13:31 Will Your Blood Actually Boil?
17:14 Could Duct Tape Work as a Space Suit?
21:41 Would You Freeze Solid?
24:45 Summing Up and How Long Could You Survive Without a Space Suit?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
