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Comment by dalek_cannes | Hacker News Reader

2001: A Space Odyssey (the movie) got this right almost half a century ago. Bowman briefly exposed himself to space trying to return to the ship for the showdown with Hal. The only movie mistake was something Clarke later claimed would never have happened had he been on set that day: Bowman is seen apparently taking a deep breath before opening the pod door.

Edit: Found the scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0Nb...

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The only movie mistake was something Clarke later claimed would never have happened had he been on set that day: Bowman is seen apparently taking a deep breath before opening the pod door.

Hah, I thought that was just a tick. You would take a breath before doing any hard physical effort and I'm pretty sure you'd try to do it even in the vacuum of space just because you're used to.

I always assumed he was hyperventilating to get as much oxygen as possible in his blood before the jump. He would have to let the air out of his lungs before jumping but I never felt like anything in the scene contradicted that.

Hyperventilating actually reduces the amount of CO2 in the body, a build up of CO2 is what creates the need to take a breath. (One of the few things I remember from scuba diving).

Thanks. That still kind of validates the impression I had that hyperventilating wasn't an irrational thing for him to be doing, but it's a very different thing.

The interesting thing is that Arthur C. Clarke was a very experienced scuba diver and still had a problem with the scene. Ah well.

It's one of my favorite action scenes in any science fiction film. The interesting thing is that the trick just relied on good photography, piano wire and dropping Keir Dullea. It's easy to imagine how a present-day director would mess that scene up with CGI effects, slow-motion, stuntmen, and so on.

Can't edit: It seems I just completely misremembered the previous part of that scene. I thought he was already in vacuum and pulling on the door to get in.

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