posted 11-03-2019 11:05 AM               

NASA has never told the public what it plans to do if an astronaut dies in outer space — leaving the macabre situation a mystery...

Luckily, so far no astronauts have died while working on the International Space Station (ISS) with all space-related fatalities happening during launch or landing.

But as traveling through space becomes commonplace and we head out on three-month trips to colonise Mars, death in space becomes inevitable.

posted 11-04-2019 10:00 AM            

Russian cosmonauts are shown placing him in some kind of bag, presumably for disposition inside a Progress cargo ship. Was that based upon Russian operational procedures in the event of a long-duration crewmember's sudden death? Or purely fictional?

posted 11-04-2019 08:14 PM               

For the ISS, resupply missions are a regular occurrence and the deceased could be returned as cargo or strapped into a crew couch.

For long-duration missions like Mars missions, There may well be a plan in draft form to deal with such contingencies. I think that determining the cause of death would be a high priority for mission managers. If the death was as the result of an accident, illness, or some other determinable factor then the protocols may be straight forward. Any death due to unknown reasons may prove more difficult to deal with because it may indicate that the remaining crew may be at risk. This raises the issue of an autopsy.

Such things sound like the plot to a horror movie, however, having a contingency plan would be a crucial chapter within the mission rules. I am sure all crew members would be aware of the risks involved in such missions and realise that there is a real chance that they may not return from such missions.

The issue of a deceased crewmember was considered on previous programs, with the loss of a crew member during the Gemini missions being a subject discussed by many over the years. The subject has also been discussed regarding the loss of crew during an Apollo lunar mission.

Some points to consider during spaceflight would be that a burial in space would not be as easy as a burial at sea, there is the chance that the deceased would cause radar tracking of the spacecraft problems by introducing another target in the vicinity of the vehicle, and the risk of collision that would require a course deviation to mitigate the risk.