Death In Space

For the first time since the Apollo missions, there is a serious talk regarding more manned spaceflight missions.  This is prompting the question, what do you do with the body when someone dies in space?

Prior to spending approximately six months in space, astronauts undergo an intense medical examination.  NASA is clearly focused on prevention, rather than what do if an astronaut dies in space.  Although there is no official protocol for bringing back an astronaut who dies, astronauts do practice for this worst-case scenario.  A “death sim” is designed to help prepare astronauts for what they should do if one of there colleagues should die.  The death sim forces astronauts to formulate a plan of action in the case of death. 

Now, as NASA and SpaceX work to establish human colonies on Mars, it is inevitable that someone will die.  While the easiest solution might be to send the body floating into space, there are international laws prohibiting this.  Thus, there needs to be a Plan B.  “Body Back” is a proposal that involves an airtight sleeping bag that a human corpse is zipped into and then exposed to the freezing temperatures of outer space.  The body is taken back on board and vibrated around until it shatters, generating about 50 pounds of ground human body dust that can stay outside the spacecraft until arriving at the destination.  Another idea is to use human bodies for composting and fertilizer on Mars; however, it is doubtful that idea will catch on. 

See Kelly Dickerson, Here’s What NASA Plans to Do If An Astronaut Dies in Space, Yahoo, Apr. 11, 2015.   

Special thanks to Riley Branch for bringing this article to my attention.