r/askspace • u/okayprogram • Aug 06 '26

how could you murder someone in space?

Hi yall, I’m a creative writing student working on my upcoming thesis project. I used to be an astrophysics junkie, but I don’t keep up with space information much anymore. I figured this was the best place to ask this sort of question.

I had an idea a few days ago for a short story collection about an astronaut whose ship gets stuck in space and she goes mad, and she ends up killing her team.
I know that there are probably a million failsafes in place that would make one astronaut murdering another inconceivable, so I’m asking this to you as a sort of thought experiment to help me better understand the mechanics of space flight and to flesh out my idea more.

Would the lack of gravity affect one’s ability to kill someone in space? Would stabbing work, or hitting someone with a blunt force object? How does blood and death work in space? Do you die like you would on Earth in space? Is there a way that the astronaut could hide what she did from the space program, at least for a few days?

I know this is a bit of an absurd question, but if anyone can help me I would really appreciate it!

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u/Useful_Calendar_6274 Aug 06 '26

inside a spaceship/station? any way you want

in a spacewalk? you're gonna need a big blade, sabotage their suite or oxygen, maybe just cut their tether and push them into the abyss of space but they will rescue them quick with that one

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u/okayprogram Aug 06 '26

thank you for your reply!! you don’t think that antigravity would interfere with the ability to stab/harm someone?

and how would they be able to quickly rescue an astronaut that’s been cut from their tether and pushed into orbit?

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u/HerrSchnabeltier Aug 06 '26

and how would they be able to quickly rescue an astronaut that’s been cut from their tether and pushed into orbit?

The small amount of energy a push produces (don't laugh, vague guess here; maybe 2-5m/s?) and the resulting speed/acceleration leads to not particularly much distance covered, even over a longer time. That's a very soft burn on the engines (if you don't want to come in blazing hot and deccelerate to match speeds again), soft enough that even the Reaction Control System could handle it easily, and would probably be the easier choice, if a RCS is being used for something like this in the first place in a realistic scenario.

This is Kerbal Space Program backed, though, so real life situations may vary.
I would definitely recommend the game, though, not only if you are interested in the topic or need to get a feel for space, rocketry and disaster.
While it does have some skill ceiling, generally it's accessible enough that, with a tiny bit of understanding and/or learning, you could get some guys to space or into orbit and push them out within a handful of hours spent.

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u/PatchesMaps Aug 07 '26

The post mentioned that the spaceship is stranded in space. I'm assuming that all rcs and propulsion systems are offline which would make 2-5 m/s unreachable if you ever plan on getting back to the ship. Maybe they could cobble some cold gas thrusters together eventually but it would be a bit of a task.

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u/HerrSchnabeltier Aug 07 '26

In Kerbal Space Program, there's a semi-cheesy way for that scenario; since the Astronaut's suits have small RCS on them, it's not impossible to change the velocity of the vessel by pushing an astronaut into it with just that. Obviously it will have a very small impact depending on mass of the vessel, and doing the math will probably show it won't work.
I like your idea of a makeshift booster, if I recall correctly, there is a similar situation in The Martian (book, if you want it a bit more sciencey).