Before every spacewalk, astronauts perform a quiet, unhurried ritual — breathing pure oxygen for an hour while the world outside waits. The practice exists to close a gap that physics opens without mercy: the difference in pressure between a spacecraft cabin and a spacesuit is wide enough to pull dissolved nitrogen out of human tissue and into dangerous bubbles. Decades of aerospace medicine research have refined this protocol into something so reliable that the peril it prevents has become, for all practical purposes, invisible — which is precisely the measure of its success.
Space Daily
· Aug 26, 2026
· technology
· 4 min de leitura
High
Apuração: Verificado
Why Astronauts Breathe Pure Oxygen Before Every Spacewalk
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Science & Space
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Viés e Enquadramento
⚖
Factual, technical explanation of spacewalk oxygen protocols with minimal bias; straightforward science communication without apparent advocacy or political framing.
Bias Direction
center
Confidence
HIGH
Educational/explanatory framing using accessible analogies (shaken soda) to demystify technical aerospace physiology for general audiences; relies on expert authority (NASA physiologist, retired astronaut) to establish credibility.
Historical context on decompression sickness incidents or near-misses that motivated protocol development
International space agency perspectives (Roscosmos, ESA, CNSA protocols for comparison)
Astronaut personal experiences or anecdotes about the pre-breathe procedure
Counterarguments or alternative approaches considered and rejected by NASA
Cost-benefit analysis or time/resource trade-offs of the one-hour protocol
Impacto Geopolítico
🌎
Technical article on spacewalk safety protocols; no geopolitical implications identified.
Escalation Risk
low
Confidence
HIGH
Lente Econômica
📈
Spacewalk safety protocol using pre-breathing pure oxygen has minimal direct economic impact but demonstrates aerospace industry's investment in worker safety standards and medical research applications.
Market Signal
neutral
Confidence
MED
Aerospace and defense
Medical devices and equipment
Occupational health and safety
Space tourism (emerging)
Indirect consumer benefit through improved space industry safety standards that may eventually influence commercial spaceflight safety protocols and insurance costs as space tourism expands.
Reinforces regulatory frameworks for human spaceflight safety; establishes precedent for occupational health protocols in extreme environments; potential application to emerging commercial space activities and regulatory requirements for private space companies.