Guardians of the Galaxy 3's big Star-Lord moment corrected by NASA astronaut
A scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 has been deconstructed by a retired NASA astronaut.
The moment in question sees Peter Quill/Star-Lord (played by Chris Pratt) stranded in space without any kind of protective gear. Before Groot saves his life, the superhero's physiology begins to visibly alter due to the crushing vacuum.
"Our best guess is that you can live outside of a spaceship with no spacesuit for 30 seconds, really no problem," Chris Hadfield told Vanity Fair, as part of a video analysing how realistic space movies are.
"But beyond about a minute-and-a-half, there's gonna be stuff happens to you that does permanent, irreversible and deathly damage – 90 seconds and you're a satellite."
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Hadfield, who entered the history books as the first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in outer space, went on to point out: "Within about 15 seconds, all the oxygen that is in your blood will have now come through your lungs the other way, and you will have breathed it out.
"So in about 15 seconds, you have blood without enough oxygen in it, and when it gets up to your brain, you'll go unconscious."
Referring to Star-Lord's frosted, ballooning head in the disturbing scene, Hadfield added: "You can see his face swelling up, that's real. If you popped your helmet off in space, sure your lungs would sort of collapse, but also your blood would fizz, like opening a can of Coke.
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"Suddenly there's bubbles in your blood and in your cheeks and in all of your flesh, and you're gonna swell up – not as much as he's swelling up here.
"Suddenly he's got frost on his face, it wouldn't happen like that. There's no water on your face, it's not gonna instantaneously freeze. You've got a lot of thermal mass. It's like sticking a big roast in the freezer... it takes a while."
Having analysed the science on display in the scene from the Marvel movie, Hadfield did concede that most of the effects would be incurred "inside your body", meaning filmmakers would need to take some artistic licence.
Since retiring as an astronaut, Hadfield – who went viral for his cover of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' while on the International Space Station – has written several books about his experiences, and has been honoured both in Canada and beyond for his career.
Following his against-the-odds survival in Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Peter makes it back to Earth safely, leaving the Guardians under Rocket's command.
A post-credits scene shows him visiting his grandfather Jason, who Peter hasn't seen since he was abducted as a child on the day his mother died. However, a title card appears at the end of the scene, stating: "The Legendary Star-Lord will return."
Filmmaker James Gunn confirmed that he and Pratt have spoken about a possible Star-Lord movie showing Peter "trying to adapt to the environment of Earth in the same way that somebody else might try to adapt to the alien environment of outer space".
All three Guardians of the Galaxy movies and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special are streaming on Disney+.
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