In 2012 NASA stealthily slipped a morgue into orbit.
No press launch. No fanfare. Only a sealed, soft-sided pouch tucked in a cargo cargo to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) alongside freeze-dried meals and scientific gear. Formally, it was known as the Human Stays Containment Unit (HRCU). To the untrained eye it regarded like a transport bag for frozen cargo. However to NASA it marked one thing way more sobering: a serious advance in making ready for loss of life past Earth.
As a child, I obsessed over how astronauts went to the lavatory in zero gravity. Now, many years later, as a forensic pathologist and a perennial applicant to NASA’s astronaut corps, I discover myself fixated on a darker, extra haunting query:
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What would occur if an astronaut died on the market? Would they be introduced dwelling, or would they be left behind? In the event that they expired on another world, would that be their remaining resting place? In the event that they handed away on a spacecraft or house station, would their stays be solid off into orbit—or despatched on an escape-velocity voyage to the interstellar void?
NASA, it seems, has begun figuring out most of those solutions. And none too quickly. As a result of the query itself is not if somebody will die in house—however when.
A Graying Corps
No astronaut has ever died of pure causes off-world. In 1971 the three-man crew of the Soviet Soyuz 11 mission asphyxiated in house when their spacecraft depressurized shortly earlier than its automated atmospheric reentry—however their deaths had been solely found as soon as the spacecraft landed on Earth. Equally, each U.S. spaceflight fatality thus far has occurred inside Earth’s ambiance—beneath gravity, oxygen and a transparent nationwide jurisdiction. That issues, as a result of it means each spaceflight mortality has performed out in acquainted territory.
However deliberate missions are getting longer, with locations past low-Earth orbit. And NASA’s astronaut corps is getting older. The common age now hovers round 50—an age bracket the place pure loss of life turns into statistically related, even for clean-living health buffs. Demise in house is not a thought experiment. It’s a likelihood curve—and NASA is aware of it.
In response, the company is making delicate however decisive strikes. The latest astronaut choice cycle was prolonged—not solely to spice up consumption but additionally to draw youthful crew members able to dealing with future long-duration missions.
NASA’s Area Morgue
If somebody had been to die aboard the ISS at the moment, their physique could be positioned within the HRCU, which might then be sealed and secured in a nonpressurized space to await eventual return to Earth.
The HRCU itself is a modified model of a military-grade physique bag designed to retailer human stays in hazardous environments. It integrates with refrigeration techniques already aboard the ISS to gradual decomposition and consists of odor-control filters and moisture-absorbent linings, in addition to reversed zippers for respectful entry on the head. There are straps to safe the physique in a seat for return, and patches for identify tags and nationwide flags.
Cadaver exams performed in 2019 at Sam Houston State College have proved the system sturdy. Some variations held for over 40 days earlier than decomposition breached the barrier. NASA even drop-tested the bag from 19 ft to simulate a tough touchdown.
But it surely’s by no means been utilized in house. And since nobody but is aware of how a physique decomposes in true microgravity (or, for that matter, on the moon), nobody can actually say whether or not the HRCU would protect tissue nicely sufficient for a forensic post-mortem.
It is a troubling information hole, as a result of in house, a loss of life isn’t only a tragic loss—it’s additionally a significant knowledge level. Was an astronaut’s demise from a fluke of their physiology, or an unavoidable stroke of cosmic dangerous luck—or was it as a substitute a consequence of flaws in an area habitat’s myriad techniques that could be discovered and glued? Future lives could rely on understanding what went unsuitable, by way of a correct postmortem investigation.
However there’s no health worker in orbit. So NASA trains its crews in one thing known as the In-Mission Forensic Pattern Assortment protocol. The house company’s astronauts could keep away from speaking about it, however all of them have it memorized: Doc every little thing, ideally with real-time steerage from NASA flight surgeons. {Photograph} the physique. Gather blood and vitreous fluid, in addition to hair and tissue samples. Solely then can the stays be stowed within the HRCU.
NASA has additionally ready for loss of life exterior the station—on spacewalks, the moon or deep house missions. If a crew member perishes in vacuum however their stays are retrieved, the physique is wrapped in a specifically designed house shroud.
The aim isn’t only a technical matter of stopping contamination. It’s psychological, too, as a approach of preserving dignity. Of all of the “firsts” any house company hopes to realize, the first-ever human corpse drifting into body on a satellite tv for pc feed isn’t amongst them.
If a burial should happen—in lunar regolith or by jettisoning into photo voltaic orbit—the physique will probably be dutifully tracked and cataloged, handled forevermore as a hallowed artifact of house historical past.
Such gestures are additionally of relevance to NASA’s plans for off-world mourning; grief and memorial protocols are actually a part of official crew coaching. If a loss of life happens, surviving astronauts are tasked with holding a easy ceremony to honor the fallen—then to maneuver on with their mission.
Uncharted Realms
To this point we’ve solely coated the “straightforward” questions. NASA and others are nonetheless grappling with tougher ones.
Contemplate the difficulty of authority over a loss of life and mortal stays. On the ISS, it’s easy: the deceased astronaut’s dwelling nation retains jurisdiction. However that readability fades as locations develop extra distant and the voyages extra numerous: What actually occurs on space-agency missions to the moon, or to Mars? How may guidelines change for industrial or multinational spaceflights—or, for that matter, the personal house stations and interplanetary settlements which might be envisioned by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and different tech multibillionaires?
NASA and its companions have began drafting frameworks, like the Artemis Accords—agreements signed by greater than 50 nations to manipulate conduct in house. However even these don’t tackle many intimate particulars of loss of life.
What occurs, as an illustration, if foul play is suspected?
The Outer Area Treaty, a authorized doc drafted in 1967 beneath the United Nations that’s humanity’s foundational algorithm for orbit and past, doesn’t say.
After all, not every little thing may be deliberate for upfront. And NASA has finished a rare job of protecting astronauts in orbit alive. However as extra individuals enterprise into house, and because the frontier stretches to longer voyages and farther locations, it turns into a statistical certainty that ultimately somebody gained’t come dwelling.
When that occurs, it gained’t simply be a tragedy. It will likely be a take a look at. A take a look at of our techniques, our ethics and our capacity to adapt to a brand new dimension of mortality. To some, NASA’s preparations for astronautical loss of life could seem merely morbid, even foolish—however that couldn’t be farther from the reality.
Area gained’t care in fact, each time it claims extra lives. However we’ll. And rising to that grim event with reverence, rigor and style will outline not simply coverage out within the nice past—however what it means to be human there, too.
