What would be a worse way to die in space?

Your problem is how you die.

Dying of oxygen starvation is painless, you simply grow tired, fall asleep lapse into a coma and don't wake up. O2 levels need to drop below 4% for you to lapse into unconsciousness.

Dying of CO2 poisoning on the other hand is very painful and unpleasant and if you want to know what it feels like try holding your breath. You're wide awake and panicking, it's a lot like drowning or suffocating or choking. It's probably the scariest way to die.

If my CO2 scrubbers were working fine I'd take the slowly drifting off to sleep O2 starvation. If my CO2 scrubbers weren't working I think it's a Sophie's choice between two equally painful ways to die.

You are essentially correct, at least with the physical realities... Consider the mental aspect though - you may have 8 to 10 hours of oxygen available; that's an *awfully* long time to be alone in space, waiting for the end.

Personally... I think the quick, 30-45 second death may be the way to go... sure, it's going to hurt for a few seconds, but you'll go into shock quickly, and lose consciousness - a far nicer death than from some of those I've seen...

And, you should know - it's not all that easy for an astronaut to 'open' his/her suit on their own.... They might *have* to wait for the oxygen to run out.

You could shut off the CO2 absorber and just pass out. In the 50's, sci-fi stories included a cyanide pill. I always thought it would be a great time to try out Na2S, the analog to hydrogen sulfide that was hoped to induce hibernation or 5'-AMP or DADLE all believed to induce hibernation in mammals, perhaps all of them at once. Might as well record some useful data on the way out.

If you've ever had Congestive Heart Failure, you would know that O2 deprivation is not drifting off to sleep, it's panic breathing. Try having low O2 for real, I have, not fun.

I believe you are right , when oxygen supply to the brain is gradually reduced , you will slowly die . It is called Cerebral Hypoxia . There are various side effects but essentially you will slowly lose brain functions and die .

The death by loss of your O2 supply would be agony. You wouldn't just get sleepy and then drift off. Your first scenario, while messy looking to someone else, probably would be better for you in that it would be very quick.

The quality of death is the pain that one must undergo to die and not what happens after. So choose your criterion accordingly.

I think it would be to let your oxygen supply run out. Think about it your up in space and you know you'll never see your family again and thinking about that it like torture to know your dying all alone up in space