Space is an immense, uncontrollable, and mysterious place. Astronomers estimate that there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the universe, and the nearest planet, Venus, is 261 million kilometers away from Earth. We may never fully understand the vastness of outer space, but we do know that it can be deadly. In 1966, a NASA aerospace engineer, Jim LeBlanc, experienced firsthand what it's like to be in space without a spacesuit.
If you were to find yourself in space without a spacesuit, the worst thing you could do is hold your breath. Depending on where you are in space, this could take between 12 and 26 hours. If you're near a star, you'll burn to a crisp. Additionally, the lack of atmospheric pressure in space causes the boiling point of liquids to decrease significantly.
The oxygen inside your lungs would expand and cause them to rupture, leading to death. The lack of oxygen in the brain makes you unconscious in less than 15 seconds and eventually kills you. That said, it is possible to survive in space without a spacesuit for about 10 to 15 seconds. Astrophysicist Paul Sutter told Forbes that temperature is a measure of the amount of energy atoms and molecules have to move, and since space is almost empty, there isn't much to move, causing it to cool down. After about one minute, circulation effectively stops.
Jim LeBlanc was the only human being to survive conditions similar to those in space on December 14th 1966. Even though we may never fully understand the power of outer space, we know that it can be fatal if we don't take the necessary precautions.
