Space can kill a human, but not in the way you may think

Space isn't a safe environment for humans. Popular culture might have us believe our demise there would be spectacular and brutal, but is space really a venue for such dramatic, violent death, in which humans are torn to pieces, incinerated, or frozen? Not quite.

Unprotected exposure to space indeed signals death, but it's not as gruesome as depicted in movies, games, and science fiction series. According to IFL Science, death in space would occur in just over a minute, but the lethal issue would be the absence of a suitable atmosphere.

To prevent evaporation, humans rely on Earth's atmospheric pressure. In space, this process accelerates, and our body's defenses falter. However, before disintegration occurs, internal complications likely would have already caused death.

Earth's atmospheric pressure absence allows bubbles to rapidly form in our body fluids. They would first appear beneath the skin but soon impact the lungs and circulatory system. This effect can cause embolism or cardiac arrest due to internal bleeding.

Body fluids could theoretically tear our bodies apart, but human skin proves highly elastic. It holds us together, even if we expand to twice our size. In space, we cannot rely on this feature, but before it fails, lack of oxygen would pose a more pressing issue.

Deprived of oxygen, humans lose consciousness within 15 seconds and survive for around a minute. Thus, an astronaut adrift in space without a suit could only be helped for approximately 70 seconds. In this scenario, their survival chances are much lower than that of a drowning victim or an avalanche casualty.

Ultraviolet and X-ray radiation are also lethal in space. They could subject a human to critical internal injuries, pose danger to rescuers, and cause severe burns. Should the person live, there is a high likelihood of DNA damage. As a consequence, the risk of developing cancer would significantly increase.