[cstross]

Rolls eyes

There is a reason they keep two Soyuz ships docked on the ISS at all times as lifeboats, in case they need to evacuate in a hurry. Those things are bloody expensive; if jumping overboard was a reasonable alternative, it'd be vastly preferable to keeping ten tons of ironmongery and heat shields on hand.

Having said that, see 1963's Project MOOSE:

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/moose.htm

[prof_hobart]

They have lifeboats on ferries crossing the English Channel. That's not because it's physically impossible to swim the channel (it's quite clearly possible, and is done on a fairly regular basis), but because most people couldn't do it, and even if they could the lifeboat is a safer way of managing an evacuation from a sinking ship.

I'm not saying that it is possible to jump from the ISS, just that the presence of a lifeboat doesn't demonstrate that any other evacuation route is impossible.

[wr1472]

   Rolls eyes

why do you need to type that? I think it is irrelevant, rude and condescending. Otherwise your comment was quite informative and I would have upvoted it.

[stcredzero]

There are a number of comments on that site that are eye roll worthy. There are even a few comments that show cluelessness about the magnitude and implications of orbital velocity.

[Florin_Andrei]

You do realize that knowledge of these things is an attribute of a tiny minority?

[WayneDB]

That's no reason to be condescending and rude. Not everybody knows about that stuff.

[cstross]

Really?

It's stuff I was taught about in physics lessons at grammar school, circa age 15, back in the 1970s. Have things slipped so far?

[dkokelley]

The way I see it, "rolls eyes" is a violation of

> When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g. "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."

from the site guidelines. Granted, this was in reply to an article rather than another commenter, but I think the principle is the same.

[slurgfest]

In the US, 15-year-olds are typically going to be in High School, not grammar school, and have a choice of classes. Not everyone takes physics.

[stcredzero]

> Have things slipped so far?

Yes. :(

[andrewingram]

I think the question was asking if survival would be at all possible, rather than whether it's a reasonable course of action in the event of an evacuation.

It looks like, for now at least, the answer is no.

[Florin_Andrei]

> Rolls eyes

In the real world knowledge of this stuff is vanishingly thin actually. Real world - the thing out there, with people and trees and stuff.