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Weekend


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June 14, 2002

Strange But True!

  • A weekly column of incidental information, off-the-wall observations and other random facts about the world.
    • By BILL SONES and RICH SONES, Ph.D.
    Special to the Journal

    Q. Leading morbid curiosity of planetary travel is what would it be like to die in outer space. Would you freeze solid like the guy in the movie "Mission to Mars"?

    A. Depicted was an astronaut who tries to grab a passing satellite but his hook misses and he is stranded, doomed now since his compatriots lack fuel for a rescue, says Sonoma State University astronomer Philip Plait in the newspaper "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung." To prevent his fellow astronaut-wife dying trying to save him, he commits suicide by yanking off his helmet. "Instant iceball, with his face becoming distorted and icky!"


     
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