Mad Thoughts

 Inside the Red Bull Skydive from Space - Esquire

It is very easy to die in the stratosphere.

For example, if the visor of the David Clark Company pressure suit that Felix will be wearing were to unexpectedly pop open, as did the visor of the David Clark Company pressure suit that Nick was wearing, several things would happen in quick succession.

First, the air in his lungs would instantly multiply 120 times over in volume. If Felix reacts to the shock of the explosive decompression by holding his breath, his lungs will rupture like overinflated balloons. If he does let the air escape through his mouth and nose, he will soon experience the novel sensation of the saliva on his tongue beginning to boil. He will be nearly sixty thousand feet above “Armstrong’s Line,” where water’s boiling point drops to 98.6 degrees. Within moments, the water in his subcutaneous tissues will begin vaporizing as well. This, in combination with the expansion of any interior gases — unfarted methane in his guts, for example — will, in a process called ebullism, quickly cause Felix’s own body to inflate, becoming as tumescent as a bodybuilder’s. Useful consciousness, mercifully, will be gone within fifteen seconds, probably sooner, though he might remain alive, swelling, distorting, for five to eight minutes.

Pictures of a space shuttle launch never cease to make me feel hopeful for mankind’s future. While us peons sit at desks giggling at songs about boat rides, there are people sitting on thousands of pounds of thrust and are going into space!

There may be hope for us yet.

Sunset on Mars via NASA