Well, holes in space shuttles got a good deal of press coverage about a
year ago when the Columbia fell apart on re-entry. That was a special
case in which the hole was in the leading edge of one of the wings. The
wings were not pressurized, and the hole went undetected during the
flight. On re-entry, air heated by friction and pressure forced its way
into the hole and the hot gases damaged components on the inside of the
wing, causing the wing to fail.
If a hole were made in the hull during the mission and opened the
astronaut's pressurized living space to the vacuum outside, the air
would rush out and the pressure would drop inside the shuttle cabin. If
the hole is not very big, big items would not get sucked out because
they'd not fit through the hole. Anything held down securely would also
not fly out with the air. Nearly everything in the space shuttle's
pressurized compartment is held down with some kind of fastener so as
not to float around and bump into the astronauts. Little things like
water droplets and crumbs and dust particles will go out with the air.
Water inside, if it is open to the ambient pressure in the cabin
would start to boil when the ambient pressure gets lower than the vapor
pressure of the water. It takes 540 calories/gram to vaporize water,
and in the absence of an external heating source, the water would cool
down as it boils, and eventually some of it will freeze. It is also
unlikely that any water would be left in open containers on the shuttle
for long, as it would float around in spherical droplets, getting in
the way of the astronauts's duties.
Tom
(published on 10/22/2007)
