This is planetary radio.

Whether you're listening on KUCI or the web, we welcome you back to planetary radio.

I'm Matt Kaplan.

The Benford name is famous to pretty much all science fiction fans and that name figures mightily in this week's show.

This time though it's very much to do with science fact as we learn how microwaves may take us to the stars.

And no, we don't mean the microwave on your kitchen counter.

Bruce Betts will be here with the new and improved what's up,

including our brand new trivia contest.

How long could you hold your breath in space?

No, again, it's not a new challenge on fear factor,

and we don't recommend trying this at home.

But we will learn the answer in just a moment, a rather macabre

edition of questions and answers. All that he said breathlessly

on this week's planetary radio. A member from Baltimore, Maryland asked,

what would happen to a human body if it were ejected into space without a space suit?

This is a very popular question.

We asked Dr. Roger Bilica, a NASA flight surgeon, to answer it. He explained that water on Earth is present in its liquid form due in part to the air pressure exerted on it.

If this air pressure is reduced or eliminated, the water will become a vapor.

Remember that the human body is made up mostly of water.

An astronaut ejected into the vacuum of space without a pressurized space suit,

or even one whose suit developed a significant leak,

would quickly experience this vaporization which would affect all of the water in his body.

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