A study published in 1968 in The Journal of Applied Physiology found that if primates breathing pure oxygen were suddenly exposed to a near vacuum for up to 210 seconds but then given oxygen at a fairly high pressure for 4 to 24 hours, they could recover and survive for years.

An accidental experiment on a human occurred in 1965 at what is now Johnson Space Center when a spacesuit leaked in a vacuum chamber. Repressurization began within 15 seconds, and the subject survived.

According to a NASA account of the incident, “the subject later reported that he could feel and hear the air leaking out, and his last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil.” C. CLAIBORNE RAY