Decompression

If you think that the previously outlined experience of implosion in the Mariana Trench wasn’t a picnic, you’re not going to like this one either. Explosive decompression is the opposite, where the pressure outside of your body is negligible and you just expand, then explode. This has happened more often than you’d think.

Back in 1983, four divers were inside a decompression chamber on the oil rig Byford Dolphin, when it explosively decompressed. The air pressure went from nine atmospheres to one in less than a second, and the damage to the one of the divers was catastrophic. Everything in his body was forcibly ejected from his torso, including his spine, and some parts flew as far as 30 feet. But at least it was quick.

There was another incident, during the Russian Soyuz 11 mission. During their re-entry into the atmosphere, a seal leaked, causing the cabin to depressurize. Any gas that was trapped in the lungs expanded, causing the astronauts to feel as if they’d been kicked in the chest. Then bubbles of gasses dissolved in the blood travel through the circulatory system, causing pain and obstructing blood flow, and ultimately resulting in 3 dead Cosmonauts landing on Earth. This was the only time anyone’s been recorded dying in space.