Just curious
Right, y'know in that there space? Since it's so fricking cold and there's no air, if an astronaut died like they do in filums where he floats away from the space station for whatever reason, does that mean they're still up there somewhere, floating away without decaying, amongst all the dead satellites, etc, ready to scare the bejesus out of whoever runs into them next?
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:00, 57 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

yes
unless they get busted apart by other things floating about in space
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:01, Reply)

I thought they quickly exploded.

( girlinthehole, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:02, Reply)

bits might rupture
but they won't totally go boom and come apart.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:03, Reply)

wouldn't it turn into...
a big space suit of human mush, just like your sandwiches you left at the bottom of your locker with an apple and rocky robbin biscuit.

All the stomach bacteria etc. nom
(feedingtimeatthezoo day 1 of his bikini diet started, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:05, Reply)

no because the skin can contain the pressure
you'll bleed out of orifices and stuff, but generally the skin will hold you together
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:07, Reply)

Plus they would often freeze

(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:07, Reply)

but.
the bacteria would soon make holes... surely? I vote mush.
(feedingtimeatthezoo day 1 of his bikini diet started, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:08, Reply)

Bacteria would die too (they re carbon life forms and many need oxygen to survive.)

(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:09, Reply)

bacteria need an atmosphere as well
and warmth

water might boil out causing shrinkage, and as MichaelS says, they would freeze as well
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:10, Reply)

probably dry out, too

( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:18, Reply)

Are you getting your information
from the Simpsons Halloween one where Homer and Bart eject themselves to avoid Rosie O'Donnell and their heads explode?
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:05, Reply)

Yes but the radiation from the sun will damage the body.
I don't think anyone has ever just floated off into space though.
(PsychoChomp, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:04, Reply)

that was going to be my next question
I couldn't find any record of it in google, but then I thought there are a couple of missions where no one came back aren't there? Without exploding into tiny pieces I mean.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:05, Reply)

hmmm, no I don't think so, I think most people die on takeoff.

(PsychoChomp, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:06, Reply)

that's what I thought.
pretty sure no one has just got lost up there
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:07, Reply)

they all...
blew up didn't they? Or are there some monkeys and dogs floating about?
(feedingtimeatthezoo day 1 of his bikini diet started, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:06, Reply)

There are monkeys and dogs
unless the space monsters ate them.
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:08, Reply)

Leica and co
were just left up there to die slowly and float about as corpses forever
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:19, Reply)

They were in Earth's orbit
Eventually, the orbit will decay and they'll fall back to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. Most of them have probably done so already.
( le brian, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 20:34, Reply)

I was reading a Ray Bradbury story last night
which takes place just after an accident has happened on a spacecraft of some kind, and all the crew are floating away in different directions, with no ability to manoeuvre. All they can do is talk to each other on the radio and wait to die. Pretty weird.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:06, Reply)

I often think about that scenario

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:20, Reply)

Often?
Sorry but I find that funny!
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:44, Reply)

I do.
Drifting off and losing contact and just floating.
*shudders*
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:51, Reply)

Me too!
It's a recurring nightmare I used to have - I think it's because at the beginning of Moonraker there's a bit where an astronaut has his cable cut whilst doing a spacewalk and floats away, screaming in horror.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:04, Reply)

that gave me a creepy shiver!

( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:33, Reply)

it's in The Illustrated Man
book of short stories. Well worth a read
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:40, Reply)

the last short story to make me creep out like that
Was Stephen King writing about a surgeon who got washed up on an island and started surgically removing and eating his own limbs. *shudder*
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:58, Reply)

I've had dreams about some of the stories in the Illustrated Man
pretty freaky stuff in some places.

Which Stephen King books is that in?

I've got all the short story ones, but stopped reading the latest one because one of the stories gave me a really fucking weird dream
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 15:00, Reply)

It was called Skeleton Key I think
It had an awesome story in it called The Mist which has just been made into a film. I haven't seen the film but I've been told it's good
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 15:15, Reply)

hmmm
I definitely have the book with the Mist in it. I'll check it out

The Mist is good. That one gave me a weird dream too. Dreamed there was a thick mist that had carnivorous monkeys in it, and to stop them eating you you had to speak french at them.

and for some reason there was a tree made of pork in the garden.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 15:27, Reply)

The Mist is excellent
possibly the most depressing ending of a film I've ever seen though.
(PsychoChomp, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 15:31, Reply)

I just read King's book Cell
about mobile phones turning people into zombies. That was a pretty depressing ending, although overall very good. And with its heart stopping moments which is King's talent.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 15:58, Reply)

the most depressing end to a film I've ever seen
is The Full Monty.

Feel-good? I was utterly depressed by it.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:04, Reply)

got your work done?
you nefarious mountebank
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:14, Reply)

I have done enough to be able to piss about once again.
No doubt the internet is overjoyed with this news...


PS I like 'nefarious mountebank' very, very much.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:26, Reply)

I'm not going to lie
the internet has barely noticed your absence, aside from the lack of pictures to punctuate innuendo and lies

it seemed to suit you
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:31, Reply)

So I'm not the constant, low-level annoyance I feared I was?
Is that good, or bad? What's worse, being a cock or being irrelevant?
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:35, Reply)

being an irrelevant cock

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:37, Reply)

Oh.
*cries*
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:38, Reply)

*tars and feathers*

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:39, Reply)

Ironic
...seeing as I was the one abusing the French for their Vichy shame only last night.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:41, Reply)

the story is good
the film, not so.

Thomas Jane is good as always though.
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 15:33, Reply)

have you seen dark star?
there are many great things about it, but one of the guys at the end ends up that way surfing into the stars forever
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:16, Reply)

www.drudge.com/archive/100367/astronauts-begin-dangerous-spacewalk
( girlinthehole, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:06, Reply)

this is linked from that page
imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970603.html
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:11, Reply)

Most interesting post of the day

well done
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:29, Reply)

thanks
I'd hope that someone at Nasa would know, so that should be quite accurate
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:31, Reply)

I was trying to think of a lolwhacky reply but I can't be bothered

( Lisette von Falcon, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:25, Reply)

be bothered
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:27, Reply)

that also

( Lisette von Falcon, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 14:28, Reply)

Dunno...
...but you reminded me how much I want this...

woo
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:02, Reply)

You would so pull wearing that.

( girlinthehole, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 18:16, Reply)

Sold!

(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 18:41, Reply)

I recall reading an article...
..about two Italian brothers in the 50s or 60s that had claimed they'd picked up radio signals from Soviet cosmonauts that were stranded in space. It may have been complete bollocks as far as I know but it was a bloody good yarn regardless... I'll see if I can find the link...

Edit: don't think this was the specific one I read, but it covers the same story: www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/1302/lost_in_space.html
(I Was a Teenage Spaceship, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 16:45, Reply)

thanks for that
made some really interesting reading
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 17:00, Reply)

There was a lot of audio from space...
...picked up on ham radios. Some of the best Yuri Gagarin audio that survives was taped by a guy sitting in his shed somewhere near Macclesfield.
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 18:43, Reply)

I had no idea

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 27 Jan 2010, 18:56, Reply)