🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <13335@ecs.soton.ac.uk> nf@ecs.soton.ac.uk writes:
>   What will happen if the space suite of an austronaut gets ripped in space ?

>   Some of us recon that he will explode while others that he will end up 
>with lots of bruises!!. One thing that all of us agree, is that it is not
>going to be a very healthy activity.

Actually this has happened: An astronaut on one of the recent Shuttle
missions got a small rip in the palm of one of his gloves. He got a
very big (relative to the rip) bruise. The suit did _not_ loose pressure.
The astronaut's hand was simply pressed tightly (apparently, pressure
tightly) against the rip. Even in a worst case, where the suit suddenly
lost pressure, the astronaut would not explode (at least the animal
experiments they once conducted didn't do this.) _If_ the astronaut
were suddenly exposed to zero pressure, _and_ he tried to hold
his breath, he might be in trouble: Ruptured eardrums, damage to
his throat/neck muscles (since he couldn't hold his breath, but trying
might do damage), etc...

                                              Frank Crary
                                              CU Boulder