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Other than from decompression and fire, what other ways has NASA or the Russian space program identified unique ways someone on the ISS could die suddenly, in particular from human error with the technology of the station.

I understand micrometeors and debris from artificial satellites are always a threat, but those wouldn't be caused by an error on the station.

Addendum-A heart attack; choking with piece of food; losing too much blood from a cut of a major artery, are not unique to errors with the technology of the station.

Bob516
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    You're looking for a PRA (probabilitistic risk assessment) skinnied down to human error causes. I've seen PRAs for shuttle but not ISS. Doesn't mean they don't exist, of course. – Organic Marble Dec 26 '19 at 01:31
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    A heart attack; choking with piece of food; losing too much blood from a cut of a major artery, etc. – Sergiy Lenzion Dec 26 '19 at 01:53
  • It appears that an ISS PRA was done http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2002ESASP.486..319S but the article doesn't go into a lot of detail. If it can be found, the answer to your question would be in there. – Organic Marble Dec 26 '19 at 02:35
  • @LeoS Thank you for helping clarify the question. – Bob516 Dec 26 '19 at 02:49
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    There are some particularly high voltages in the power production system (solar panels, batteries) on the ISS. There are likely ways to be electrocuted if a power component is damaged or mishandled. – CourageousPotato Dec 26 '19 at 02:59
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    This article (in Russian), along with fire and decompression, highlights risk of major malfunction of life support system(s) and presence of toxic atmosphere (both could be induced by a human error). I would also add a possibility of human error in handling dangerous bio- experiments (outbreak of hazardous bio- material of a bio-experiment to the ISS habitat atmosphere), but these scenarios are unlikely to lead to a sudden death though. Saying this, there are terminal scenarios when fire or decompression wouldn't lead to a sudden death – Sergiy Lenzion Dec 26 '19 at 03:35
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    Astronaut Luca Parmitano nearly drowned during a space walk... – Paul Dec 26 '19 at 04:30
  • @Paul not germane - no human error – Organic Marble Dec 26 '19 at 05:19
  • True it is not germane but it was helpful to me anyway. It answered a question I didn't even think to ask. – Bob516 Dec 26 '19 at 05:23
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    here's some non-germane human error: 1, 2, 3, 4 I suppose something similar could be done by an astronaut on the ISS as well. – uhoh Dec 26 '19 at 09:59
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    Two circumstances I can think of: crashing a spacecraft into the station by botched rendez-vous (like it happened with Mir, dumb luck nothing critical was damaged), and a space-suit failure during EVA (due to an error in handling or inspection failure). Drowing in the coolant water due to a leak in the cooling layer is a serious risk and something that almost happened (the leak wasn't so severe as to obstruct the astronaut's mouth and nose) – SF. Dec 26 '19 at 10:42
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    No timely supplies from earth accompanied by an absence of functioning return vessels. A lab rat going berserk. A "flight participant" space tourist going berserk and unauthorisedly run some technological devices, such as Soyuz. –  Dec 26 '19 at 13:19
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    Flying away from the station during EVA because of a detached tether? –  Dec 26 '19 at 13:28
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    Smashed by moving parts (such as Strela or Canadarm cranes) during EVA? –  Dec 26 '19 at 13:34
  • @CourageousPotato Voltages used on the ISS are not higher than those used in houses equipped with solar panels. Voltages used for outdoor power distribution on Earth for medium and long distances are much higher. – Uwe Dec 26 '19 at 16:54
  • @Uwe I meant high voltage in the solar panel assembly itself – CourageousPotato Dec 26 '19 at 16:55
  • Absence of return vessels is very unlikely. There's always enough to return and preparing a Soyuz for launch takes less than supplies will last, plus Dragon 2 is practically ready and can be prepared for flight in weeks. Flying away from station - SAFER maneuvering system, plus they can always give a chase in a Soyuz. The speeds would hardly exceed 2-3 m/s. Plus you'd need a very bad accident to lose the tether, the loads are really low in 0g. Canadarm moves quite slowly, would be hard to get hit strong enough. – SF. Dec 29 '19 at 01:00

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