In 2012, NASA furtively slipped a morgue into orbit.
No press release. No fanfare. Just a sealed pocket and on a gentle scale nestled in a cargo at the International Space Station (ISS) alongside freeze -dried meals and scientific equipment. Officially, it was called the unit of confinement of human remains (HRCU). With an unreal eye, he looked like an expedition bag for ice cargo. But for NASA, it marked something much more sober: a major advance in the preparation of death beyond the earth.
As a child, I am obsessed with the way astronauts went to the toilet in zero gravity. Now, decades later, as a forensic pathologist and sustainable candidate for the body of NASA astronauts, I find myself a darker and more haunting question:
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What would happen if an astronaut fell there? Would they be brought home or would they be left behind? If they expire in another world, would it be their last place of rest? If they died on a spacecraft or a space station, will their leftovers be thrown into an orbit – or sent in an escape trip to the interstellar vacuum?
It turns out that NASA has started working on most of these answers. And not too early. Because the question itself is no longer if Someone will die in space, but When.
An graying body
No astronaut has ever died of natural causes outside the world. In 1971, the crew of the three men of the Soviet Soyuz 11 assignment space in space When their spacecraft was depressed shortly before its automated atmospheric return, but their death was only discovered once the spacecraft landed on earth. Likewise, each death of American space flights to date has occurred in the atmosphere of the earth – under gravity, oxygen and a clear national jurisdiction. This counts, because it means that each mortality in space flight took place in a familiar territory.
But the planned missions are getting longer, with destinations beyond the low orbit. And the body of nasa astronauts ages. The average age now oscillates around 50 years – to an age group where natural death becomes statistically relevant, even for lovers of clean fitness. Death in space is no longer an experience of thought. It is a probability curve – and NASA knows it.
In response, the agency makes subtle but decisive movements. Most recent astronaut selection cycle was extended– Not only to increase the contribution but also to attract young crew members capable of managing future long -term missions.
Nasa'S space morgue
If someone had to die aboard the ISS today, his body would be placed in the HRCU, which would then be sealed and secured in an unprecedented area to wait possible return to earth.
The HRCU itself is A modified version a military quality body bag designed to store human remains in dangerous environments. It is integrated into the refrigeration systems already on board the ISS for slow decomposition and includes filters with control of smells and absorbent liquids with humidity, as well as reverse zippers for respectful access to the head. There are straps to secure the body in a seat for the return, and patches for name labels and national flags.
The corpse tests carried out in 2019 at the SAM Houston State University proved the sustainable system. Some versions held for more than 40 days before the decomposition raped the barrier. NASA even experienced the 19 -foot bag to simulate a hard landing.
But it has never been used in space. And since nobody knows how a body decomposes in real microgravity (or, moreover, on the moon), no one can really say if the HRCU would keep the tissues fairly well for a forensic autopsy.
It is a disturbing knowledge lake, because in space, death is not only a tragic loss – it is also a vital data point. Was the disappearance of an astronaut was a stroke of luck with their physiology, or an inevitable blow of cosmic bad luck-or was it rather a consequence of defects in the myriads of a space-habitat that could be found and fixed? Future lives can depend on the understanding of what was wrong, via an appropriate post-mortem investigation.
But there is no medical examiner in orbit. NASA therefore leads to its crews in something called the protocol for the collection of forensic samples on mission. Astronauts from the space agency can avoid talking about it, but they all memorized it: document everything, ideally with real -time advice from NASA flight surgeons. Photograph the body. Collect blood and glassy liquid, as well as hair and fabric samples. It is only then that the leftovers can be stored in the HRCU.
NASA has also prepared for death outside the station – on space balls, the moon or the missions of deep space. If a crew member perishes in the void but their leftovers are recovered, the body is wrapped in a specially designed space shroud.
The objective is not only a technical question to prevent contamination. It is also psychological as a means of preserving dignity. Of all the “first” that any space agency hopes to achieve, the very first human corpse deriving in the context on a satellite flow is not among them.
If an burial must occur – in the lunar regolith or by throwing itself into solar orbit – the body will be followed conscientiously and cataloged, treated forever as a sacred artifact of the history of space.
These gestures are also relevant for NASA's plans for mourning out of the world; The protocols of sorrow and memorial are now part of the official training of crews. If a death occurs, surviving astronauts are responsible for holding a simple ceremony to honor the dead – then to continue their mission.
Unexplored kingdoms
So far, we have only covered “easy” questions. NASA and others are still struggling with harshest.
Consider the question of authority on a death and fatal leftovers. On the ISS, it is simple: the country of origin of the deceased astronaut retains its competence. But this clarity fades as destinations become more distant and more diverse trips: what is really happening on space agency missions on the moon, or on Mars? How can the rules change for commercial or multinational space flights – or, moreover, private space stations and interplanetary establishments envisaged by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other technological multimillionaries?
NASA and its partners began to write frameworks, as Artemis agreements—Acts signed by more than 50 nations to govern behavior in space. But even these do not deal with many intimate details of death.
What happens, for example, if an unfair game is suspected?
The Treaty of SpaceA legal document written in 1967 under the United Nations which is the fundamental whole of rules of humanity for orbit and beyond, does not say.
Of course, everything cannot be planned in advance. And NASA has done extraordinary work to keep astronauts in orbit in orbit. But while more and more people venture into space and the border extends to longer trips and destinations further, it becomes a statistical certainty that sooner or later, someone will not go home.
When this happens, it will not only be a tragedy. It will be a test. A test of our systems, our ethics and our ability to adapt to a new dimension of mortality. For some, NASA preparations for astronautical death may seem simply morbid, even stupid – but that could not be further from the truth.
The space does not of course care each time it claims more lives. But we will do it. And get up on this dark opportunity with respect, rigor and grace will define not only politics in the big beyond, but what a human being means there too.
