[Zimahl]

The Expanse handles this stuff much better than other shows, as has been noted many times. As entertaining as it is, For All Mankind gets things very wrong in a lot of cases and falls prey to a lot of the 'space tropes' that plague sci-fi. And I certainly don't expect hard sci-fi realism everywhere, but in something like For All Mankind, which is supposed to exist in an alternate timeline but be firmly planted in the real world, it's jarring. When it's in something like the movie Event Horizon I really don't care about realism.

[OpieCunningham]

I just watched the scene in For All Mankind with the astronauts/lunar surface/duct tape and it seemed to match this article. Which aspects of For All Mankind are you referencing that got it wrong?

[Zimahl]

The duct tape scene is not right, there is a youtube video [0] from a physicist and astronomer that explains pressure suits (which the duct tape would provide). He surmised that they had a minimum of a minute to do their work, and certainly wouldn't have been leaking blood all over the place.

The other trope that For All Mankind really fumbled on was the decompression of the space station (I'm avoiding spoilers for those that don't know why). It followed the trope of massive amounts of air continuously rushing out of the station when that can only happen when there is a massive amount of air available to continuously feed the decompression. In reality, it would be a short rush of air to vacuum as the window was large enough for most to escape very quickly.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdoMOXvqjbY

[nojokes]

In one episode Naomi inhales in just before exposure to the vacuum - it would have been fatal according to the article.

[meristem]

In the book she exhales: "She pushed her jaw forward in a yawn, opening her throat and her Eustachian tubes. Cyn yelped as she hit OPEN OUTER DOOR. Air tugged at her once, hard, as it evacuated. Adrenaline flooded her blood as she was assaulted invisibly on every square centimeter of flesh. The breath in her lungs rushed out of her, trying to pull her lungs along with it.[...] With her lungs empty, there was no reserve. She wasn’t holding her breath, surviving off the gas held inside her. Someone could hold their breath for a couple minutes. In the vacuum, she could make it maybe fifteen seconds unaided.

Corey, James S.A.. Nemesis Games (The Expanse) (p. 425). Orbit. Kindle Edition.

[nojokes]

Nice to know that the author got it right in the book.

[herewulf]

If you're referring to the scene where she deliberately exits an airlock, then she actually exhaled whereas the other person with her did not and died.

(Purposely being vague to avoiding spoiling anyone on this great series)

[nojokes]

Yes, that one.

I rewatched this moment on Prime and I remembered it correctly. While she exhales after last words slowly, she inhales sharply before pressing the button.

I remember it probably because I watch everything with subtitles on and that was written. I now watched it without to avoid being biased and it still holds.

In addition she was exposed to the vacuum about 40 seconds before using the shot.

[at_a_remove]

What you really want is something like the Sturm Invocation from Charles Sheffield.