Eli5: If creatures such as tardigrades can survive in extreme conditions such as the vacuum of space and deep under water, how can astronauts and other space flight companies be confident in their means of decontamination after missions and returning to earth?

Question

My initial post was related to more of bacteria or organisms on space suits or moon walks and then flown back to earth in the comfort of a shuttle.

In: Biology

Answer 1

Spacecraft reentry is significantly harder to survive than just “living in space.”

Organisms are usually good at surviving one type of environment very well. Going from the “very cold vacuum of space” to the “very hot and very high pressure entry” is extremely difficult for any organism. Impossible for most.

For things that aren’t exposed to reentry conditions, they are autoclaved (high pressure, high temperature, for lots of time.) Nothing we know can survive that.

In case you haven’t noticed, we ONLY know of life that exists on earth, and if we can kill everything we KNOW of, then that’s generally considered “good enough.”

Furthermore, the organisms that we do know of that can survive conditions like that (for shorter periods of time) aren’t dangerous to humans so we don’t care.