[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/SchlockMercenary https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/schlock_crop.jpg]]]]

->''"In space, loud sounds, like explosions, are even louder because there is no air to get in the way."''
-->-- ''#3 - Law of Sonic Amplification'' from ''[[JustForFun/RulesOfAnime The Laws of Anime]]''

Whenever a satellite or space vessel of any kind is shown, there will be either a beeping in time with one of the lights (for satellites) or the sound of the engines, which is usually a low rumble. Whenever weapons are fired, there will be an accompanying sound, especially with "laser" weapons (which do not produce any kind of sound anyway, "[[BangBangBANG PEW PEW PEW]]!"). Explosion will be clearly audible. An EarthShatteringKaboom is sure to make a [[Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1 terrible, ghastly noise]]. This is mostly due to TheCoconutEffect, but can sometimes be taken to extremes. One particularly strange case, combining it with BatmanCanBreatheInSpace, is having characters ''talk to each other'' in space.

Only rarely will characters who find themselves outside of the ship use the one way to talk to somebody in a vacuum without radio, going up to them and touching their helmets together, allowing the vibrations to transmit directly.

AcousticLicense prevails. It is standard cinematic convention that sound is subjective. You hear what the characters are hearing. Since the ship can hear itself, and there is nothing else in the scene, it is natural to include audio from the ship's point of view. Deleting audio would only be correct if a character was somewhere able to see, but not hear, the ship. Another more 'technical' explanation has more to do with the rules of television production: a silent space battle is somewhere between incredibly boring and incredibly ''unsettling'', and unlikely to attract viewers that have just tuned in or may even turn viewers off simply because [[RealityIsUnrealistic our brains are telling us we should be hearing sound even if there is nothing to hear]]. Indeed, some productions play the "unsettling" part to the hilt by [[ZigZaggedTrope having brief scenes that depict space "realistically" with no sound]] to emphasize that the noises we're hearing are for convenience--and using the ''lack'' of sound in that scene for NothingIsScarier purposes.

The best [[JustifiedTrope justification]] so far actually links into the above in "auralization", where a ship creates sound effects as part of an InUniverse ViewerFriendlyInterface for its crew. If ''we'' can have 3D positional sound with home acoustic systems, why should ''spaceships'' not have audio representations of events to complement visuals? Also, the sound of explosions ''could'' be justified by assuming that the radio equipment is destroyed last and transmits the sound of the explosion to the other ships.

Of course Administrivia/TropesAreTools, and this is ArtisticLicense. Having the sound makes the scene more accessible to the LowestCommonDenominator without having to stop to have the characters get a science lesson, plus — it's usually cool.

In RealLife, the ''inside'' of a spaceship is often noisier than the same machinery would be on the ground, because sound tends to echo a lot with nowhere to go. That said, while sound may not travel well, pressure waves do (because they're the result of matter, however scarce, interacting with each other) and so depending on how you define sound, things in space can produce a sort of 'noise'.

This is a subtrope of ArtisticLicenseSpace.

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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
%%* Zig-zagged in the film version of ''Manga/{{Akira}}'': the trope is played straight when Tetsuo begins to destroy SOL, not so much when SOL fires its laser on Neo-Tokyo beforehand.
%%* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' plays this trope completely straight.
* Justified in the animated movie of ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' called ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasLittleSpaceWar''. The "sounds" that the viewer hears are actually from the spaceships and tanks in the scene.
* Played with in ''Anime/GaoGaiGar''. Mic Sounders, a rock star robot with the ability to give the other Brave Robots status buffs with ThePowerOfRock. When he uses this power in space, it seems like this trope, but it's explained in his introduction that his guitar doesn't actually produce sound waves, but rather ''microwaves''. The rock music is actually a sort of TranslationConvention to show the invigorating effects of the microwaves on the robots' power systems in a human context (and may even be audible to humans in space thanks to the Frey Effect).
* ''Anime/{{Gunbuster}}'' also has noisy space.
* Not the [[SpaceWestern kind ]][[RuleOfCool of ]][[HumongousMecha anime]] you'd expect realism from, but in ''Anime/GunXSword'' space shots tend to be silent in sound effects, with just the BGM being audible. It was probably an artistic choice to accentuate how alien that environment and context may feel like for your typical denizen of Endless Illusion (most don't even know what exactly space is).
* Averted in ''Anime/ID0'' where all the space sequences lack sound effects. Even asteroids striking the shields of a ship do so in silence.
* ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'', sounds of lasers and explosions abound.
* ''Anime/MelodyOfOblivion'' does a bit of LampshadeHanging when the characters are fighting in space:
-->'''Koko:''' Echo, my Melos!\\
'''Flying Bunny''': "Echo, my Melos"? How can we hear that? We're in space, right?
* The ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' series says everything you hear is the computer simulation in mecha for the pilots to raise awareness in combat.
** The original novels establish the concept of "skin talk", namely direct, uninterceptible communications performed by making direct physical contact with the machine with which you want to speak. This is seen in a slightly different fashion in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91'', where mecha can use wires to achieve the same effect (and in the final scene, TheRival even clandestinely eavesdrops on the hero using this method when the latter is otherwise occupied).
** A notable aversion in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' is when Kamille resorts to opening his helmet's visor to make Emma come to her senses, where nothing he tries to say afterward can be heard.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'' features a small aversion when Uso and the other kids sneak out the Victory in order to search for Shakti. Some of the kids uses a small shuttle as a visual distraction and as a result leaves the adults unable to notice that the Victory is walking out of the hangar behind their backs.
** Played with/averted in the ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamThunderbolt'' [=OVA=]. The battles in space come with all the usual Gundam sound effects... up unit a scene near the end where we see [[CurbStompBattle a Zaku go one-on-one with a Full-Armor Gundam]] [[MookHorrorShow from the Zaku's perspective]]. The only thing we can hear is the sounds the Zaku and its weapons make, [[OhCrap the pilot having a panic attack]] as his Zaku gets torn to pieces, and music coming from the Gundam once it makes physical contact with the Zaku. So all the noisy space sounds are seemingly there for the audience's benefit.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury'' averts this for one scene in the finale [[spoiler:when Suletta is left drifting in space after the dissolution of Quiet Zero and the Gundams. Miorine finding her, her frantic attempts to rouse her, and her breaking down in tears when she thinks Suletta is dead all play out in complete silence. It's only after Suletta regains consciousness and begins to speak does the audience hear any sound.]]
* Averted the moment Sora removes the atmosphere in their game against Jibril in ''Literature/NoGameNoLife'', as both all sound effects and background music almost instantly disappears with only the characters internal voices being audible. Additionally, Jibril discovers to her horror when she tries to speak that not a single sound leaves her lips, thus putting her at risk of loosing the game.
* In ''Manga/OutlawStar'' an "Ad Ship" flies through space blaring music. The ship was blaring radio transmissions to the nearby ships, not sending actual noise through space.
* ''Anime/SailorMoon R the Movie'':
** Just... the whole thing after they teleport into space.
** It could have been worse. They could have been on outer space surf boards.
* ''Manga/SpaceBrothers'' regularly shows things like footsteps making noise, but it seems to just be for the benefit of the viewer (as well as not having full episodes of just silence).
* In ''Literature/StarshipOperators'', the sound effects are added at the insistence of the reality TV producers who sponsor the ship -- with the claim that it's what their viewers expect - much to the annoyance of some crew members.
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' rips this trope to shreds: even the space ''between'' space is noisy.
* In ''Anime/TamagotchiTheMovie'', the Tamagotchi Planet and [[spoiler:Blackholetchi]] are able to talk freely in space.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* In episode 43 of ''Animation/HappyHeroes'', Big M. and Little M. accidentally get themselves sent to space through a garbage disposal rocket. They're still able to talk freely while in space.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* They did attempt keep this trope in mind (sometimes) [[ComicBook/PostCrisis after the Crisis]]. After the Death of Superman, the Cyborg throws Doomsday out of the Solar System -- it shows Doomsday laughing as he hurtles through space, but they have the narrator make a disclaimer along the lines of "You cannot hear sounds in space, but if you could...".
* Discussed, parodied, lampshaded and finally wisely ignored in [[ComicBook/AmbushBug Ambush Bug]]. "They said there is no sound in space. George Lucas couldn't care less. Now he's a billionaire."
* Lampshaded in an editor's note in [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor #214]]:
-->Doubtless, there are those among you who will question the use of a sound effect in airless space. There are, of course, explanations for such an occurrence but we shall not bore you by relating them.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Diana and Etta jump to the moon on the back of a giant Kanga while wearing (as their ''only'' protective gear) oxygen masks. While hurtling through the void between earth and the moon they have a full conversation, despite having no communication devices or any medium for the sound to travel through about their ears.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/AChildShallLeadThemTransformers'': Unicron's roar is audible even in space. Snarl points out a possible justification -- Unicron being a GodOfEvil, the laws of science might not apply to him.
* In ''[[Fanfic/PeterChimaerasDigimonTrilogy Digimon 2: Return of Digimon]]'', both Digimon and his EvilCounterpart Evil Digimon are perfectly able to talk to each other during their climactic battle in space.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Animation]]
* In the third ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' movie, ''[[Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolfMoonCastleTheSpaceAdventure Moon Castle: The Space Adventure]]'', Weslie and Wolffy are accidentally sent outside of the candy spaceship and into space. They can still talk perfectly fine while in space.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* Averted in ''Film/ItTheTerrorFromBeyondSpace'' with the spacewalk which is carried out in silence. Of course [[TrappedWithMonsterPlot most of the action takes place inside the ship]], so they could afford to avert the trope for this one scene. The trailer even mentions the action taking place "in the silent void of outer space".
* As a GenreThrowback (indeed, the first) to 1930s sci-fi serials (amongst many other things), ''Franchise/StarWars'' naturally features sound in space.
** ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' featured "seismic charges", essentially noise-bombs used in space. In the commentary track of the DVD, one of the filmmakers commented that they were aware there's no sound in space, but used them anyway because they're [[RuleOfCool so cool]]. Yet the explosion itself is dead silent, with only the shockwave afterwards being heard.
** [[https://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0294.html This]] ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' strip explains (or at least attempts to) how a sonic mine could work in space.
** According to [[Radio/StarWarsRadioDramas the NPR radio plays]] of the original trilogy, ships in ''Franchise/StarWars'' use auralization as an audio aid to their crews.
** Working with George Lucas on ''Star Wars'', Creator/AlanDeanFoster strongly objected to explosions in space and produced several viable alternatives (probably including the same one he wrote in the novelization, below). Lucas's reply wasn't, "but it makes this more like the old-time serials," it was a cynical, "There's a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them the boom." Foster hasn't worked with Lucas since.
** As explained [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0171.html in a different]] ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' strip (or to be exact, the notes), in the novelisation of ''A New Hope'', which predated even the movie itself, there is a justification for this explained by Han Solo to Luke Skywalker.
---> '''Han:''' Your sensors'll give you an audio simulation for a rough idea of where those fighters are when they're not on your screen. It'll sound like they're right there in the turret with you.
** Like the ''Attack of the Clones'' example above, ''Film/TheLastJedi'' briefly averts this for artistic purposes when [[spoiler: Admiral Holdo rams the ''Raddus'' into Snoke's flaship at ''lightspeed'']]. The scene is dead silent for about ten seconds, and absolutely spectacular as a result.
* In ''Film/Apollo13'' a wind effect was used for extravehicular shots of the module in freefall, really as an effect that is QuieterThanSilence.
* The film ''Film/LaraCroftTombRaider'' features some space shots to illustrate that the planets are aligning. ''The planets themselves'' make a deep humming noise as they move through space; apparently they're cruising on impulse power.
* ''Film/Armageddon1998'' does this with ''everything''. Explosions, the shuttle flights, drilling on an airless asteroid and so on. Given that the film is stuffed with enough errors to give anyone with even a trace of scientific knowledge an aneurysm though this shouldn't really come as a surprise.
* ''Film/SupermanII'': Zod and his minions hold a conversation on the moon. Considering the [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands kinds of powers]] that Kryptonians had [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths in that era]], this doesn't seem too way out. At least it wasn't [[http://comiccoverage.typepad.com/comic_coverage/2009/01/the-superpowers-that-time-forgot-part-3.html Super Antiquing-Breath]]. It's still a matter of the sound travelling through a vacuum from one person to another.
* ''Film/RobotJox'': This MadeOfExplodium HumongousMecha XtremeKoolLetterz B-movie features a climactic battle where robots (with no legitimate reason to be space-capable) spontaneously launch themselves into orbit [[spoiler: only to blow your mind by AVERTING the trope! If you are watching for the first time and haven't heard about the blatant aversion, this singular nod to realism is so jarring you may literally fall out of your chair.]]
* ''Film/SilentRunning'' has audible nuclear explosions in space.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek''
** In ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', you can hear thunder and see lighting in the nebula.
** ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' is particularly egregious, its plot relying on whale songs traveling for light years through space for the BigBad to notice that the songs had stopped.
** ''Film/StarTrek2009'' zig-zags the trope. There's a scene early on when a redshirt gets sucked into the vacuum [[AndIMustScream and the sound cuts out]]. Later, when Kirk is spacesuit-diving into Vulcan's atmosphere, the sound slowly fades in as he descends. Whenever the shot is following a space ship, however, the sound effects are at full volume.
* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''
** Despite the first movie's famous {{tagline}} "In Space No One Can Hear You Scream", there are some flight-cruising sounds and [[ExplosionsInSpace explosions]] in the various movies.
** ''Film/Alien40thAnniversaryShorts''. Averted in ''Containment'' which opens with a spacecraft silently exploding, and the only noise we hear is what would realistically reverberate through the hull of the {{escape pod}} when the scene shifts to it. So in space no-one can hear you self-destruct.
* ''Film/{{Elysium}}'': While more subdued than space opera style explosions, the missiles that explode in space can still be heard.
* In ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', the villain's ship explodes with lots of noise, though there's also a gag about the rock monster being ''happy'' when flung off into the vaccuum of space, because it means all the annoying noises have finally stopped.
* Both averted and played straight in ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''. All the exterior space shots are absolutely silent, but shots of Poole and Bowman inside spacesuits and EVA pods are filled with noisy machinery and the breathing of the astronauts. However the sequel ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'' had conventionally noisy space.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** The ''A New Hope'' novelization, as well as the RadioDrama, use the ''Hunting Party'' explanation during the Death Star escape to explain why the gunners can hear the scream of TIE fighters around the ship.
--->'''Han Solo:''' ''[to Luke Skywalker]'' Your sensors'll give you an audio simulation for a rough idea of where those fighters are when they're not on your screen. It'll sound like they're right there in the turret with you.
** Franchise/StarWarsLegends: One battle in Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy depicts the roar of A-wing engines as ''so incredibly loud'' that Wedge in his X-wing cockpit can hear them "even through the tenuous gases of interplanetary space."
* In Creator/ElizabethMoon's ''Literature/FamiliasRegnant'' series it is mentioned that despite the soundlessness of space, the computer systems on warships are programmed to generate sound effects appropriate to ongoing events to provide audio cues for the crew. This allows them to take advantage of the considerable unused information bandwidth, without overloading visual readouts. At least one ship captain is said to have edited his sound effects to mimic that of an orchestra playing.
* Creator/FredSaberhagen's ''Literature/{{Berserker}}'' novels.
* The Literature/PaulSinclair novel ''Against All Enemies'' by Creator/JohnHemry used this, too:
-->The ''Gilgamesh'''s energy weapons didn't make any actual sound as they blazed past too close for comfort through the vacuum of space, but system designers had realized that the fastest and most effective way of alerting a crew to incoming fire was to simply simulate sounds that might be made by such weapons if they could be heard. Paul, trying not to duck at the sounds, realized the idea worked very well indeed.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' attempt to justify this in ''The Andalite Chronicles'', by saying that energy from shredder or dracon beam blasts are translated into sound to lessen the impact of the weapons, and there's the stereotypical noises in space. And since the other main space-faring race in the series (the [[PuppeteerParasite Yeerks]]) basically reverse-engineered all their technology from the Andalites, they'd have this technology too.
* Double subverted in Anne [=McCaffrey=]'s novel ''Pegasus In Flight''. Rhyssa, the protagonist, has been trying to negotiate better working conditions for the psychics working a space station. The manager repeatedly says that their requests are ridiculous, especially the special shielding for noise- she says that there is no noise in space. Later, another main character tapes the noise heard by the psychics (described as squeaks and metallic groans) and plays it to the manager's assistant, who is only too happy to accede to their demands.
* ''Emperor Mollusk versus The Sinister Brain'' by A. Lee Martinez. Mollusk gets round this problem by having a computer program create the appropriate sound effects when his FlyingSaucer manoeuvers or blows up an enemy ship.
* In the ''Literature/{{Stardoc}}'' series the Jorenians are said to arm their starships with sonic weapons.
* ''[[Literature/TheFlightEngineer The Privateer]]'' by Creator/SMStirling and Creator/JamesDoohan at one point has the viewpoint character mocking the inaccuracy of a ShowWithinAShow having a starship's position be given away by somebody aboard dropping something.
* ''Literature/CiaphasCain: The Greater Good'' aims a TakeThat at this.
-->'''Ciaphas Cain:''' "Any sign of--" I began, then broke off as something from a nightmare howled[[labelnote:1]][[/labelnote]] past the viewport.\\
'''Amberley Vail:''' 1. A clear figure of speech, as sound doesn't travel in a vacuum; something the producers of pict shows seem curiously unwilling to admit.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' creator Creator/JMichaelStraczynski defends the sounds of exploding ships in space due to the air inside them resisting dissipation long enough to carry sound (This however is an illustration that ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale). He admits that the guns creating sound does not make sense, however. On another occasion, Straczynski claimed that the "sounds" heard during a space battle were actually part of the background music.
* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' does not use silent space, but sounds in space are muffled. This is meant to represent the way explosions and fired weapons sound from the interior of the ships. Demonstrating the aforementioned "law of cinema", if a scene intercuts between shots outside and inside a fighter, the muffling increases inside the cockpit. The producers stated in interviews that they tried soundless space but it made transitions too jarring.
* On the May 8, 2008 episode of ''Series/TheColbertReport'', Stephen talks to astronaut Garrett Reisman on the ISS. Stephen says "I've heard that in space no one can hear you scream. Would you test that?" Garrett responds by saying "Sure Stephen, I'd be happy to," and then cutting his mike and screaming.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E742 "42"]] uses the silence of space for effect [[spoiler:when the two lead characters are in vehicles moving away from each other]], but elsewhere in the episode, even the sun makes noise. Stars have an atmosphere, and if you could enter it without being burnt to a crisp, it would sound very loud indeed.
* In an episode of ''Series/GekisouSentaiCarranger'', the MonsterOfTheWeek's plan is to use the noise of toots in order to piss off aliens to destroy earth. [[spoiler:In the end, his bike horns make so much noise that a passing alien blows him up.]]
* ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' followed this trope to its logical conclusion. Superhuman characters who could survive vacuum could also ''speak out loud'' there.
* ''Series/{{Space 1999}}'': Notably in the episode "The Last Enemy" the Alphans can not only hear a spacecraft flying over the base, but cower on the floor with their ears covered as missiles fly overhead.
* Used like in nearly every other SpaceOpera in ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond''. Parodied in the PilotMovie, though, when [[DrillSergeantNasty Gunnery Sergeant Bogous]] exhorts his pilot cadets that, "[[Film/{{Alien}} In space, no one can hear you scream]], unless [[SemperFi it's a United States Marine Corps]] {{battle cry}}!"
* According to Gene Roddenberry, ''Franchise/StarTrek'' was originally planned without sound in the space scenes; the network required him to put sound effects in because without them, the scenes [[RealityIsUnrealistic "looked fake"]].
** In the otherwise superb ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek TOS]]'' episode "Balance of Terror", both the Romulan and the Enterprise crews cut their ship's power to avoid detection. During this, the crews ''whisper'' so they will not alert the enemy. This is actually [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the fact that starship sensors are established to be able to detect even very faint vibrations - such as heartbeats - from very long distances: the impact of loud voices hitting the hull could give them away.
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' had a particularly egregious example: one episode opens with Trip sitting in his quarters facing away from his window, where he ''hears'' a ship fly past outside and gets up to take a look at it.
** In one episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', when the crew is testing out external holographic projectors, they screw up the math, and Doc is beamed out into space. The viewers can clearly hear him yelling at the top of his holographic lungs to let him back in.
** In some episodes of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', it gets ridiculous at times. The season 4 episode "Legacy" shows the Enterprise in orbit above Tasha Yar's home planet. Suddenly, there's an explosion of a ship in orbit. The bridge crew was monitoring the planet through the main viewer, and you can hear the explosion. Somehow the sound of the explosion made it ''through the vaccum of space'' (or perhaps through a very thin outer atmosphere), through space, and through the hull of the ship so it could be heard inside the bridge. However this could be explained as a feature of the main viewer system itself, although if it is, it is selective.
* ''Series/UFO1970'' accompanies all its spacecraft with noise, from the eerie pulsating whine of the {{Flying Saucer}}s to the roar of the interceptors. Scenes involving people in spacesuits tend to stick to the silence-in-space rule.
* In the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S11E06Starcrash Starcrash]]", there's so many explosions, laser fire and the like that Jonah groans out "In space, no one can hear you scream! It's so loud!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* In Outer Space as visualised by psychedelic rockers Music/{{Hawkwind}}, space is very noisy indeed. In ''Lighthouse'', the background is a constant babble of spaceship radios talking to each other and to the eponymous Lighthouse, which is continually putting out a beacon signal (sound) to guide spaceships on their way.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pinball]]
* ''Pinball/SpaceShuttle'' includes a standard litany of rockets, beeps, and explosions, as well as an oscillation background sound.
* Per its inspiration, ''Pinball/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' has lots of sound while zipping across the galaxy.
* Similarly, all of the ''Pinball/StarWars'' pinballs have a cacophony of sounds in space.
* Both ''Pinball/PinBot'' and ''Pinball/TheMachineBrideOfPinbot'' feature a litany of sounds and robot voices, even though the lack of any atmosphere require all of the humans to wear space suits.
* In ''Pinball/JackBot'', not only is space noisy, but it sounds like a casino.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/{{Earthsearch}}''. Lampshaded when the Custodian of the Past supplies sound effects for her lecture on the origin of the solar system, despite there being no sound in space. In Season 2, the axon disabling beam sent through interstellar space to disable the ''Challenger'' makes a musical sound, but this is handwaved as being caused by harmonic resonances created when the beam strikes the ship.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theme Parks]]
* ''Ride/SpaceMountain'' at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks has numerous sounds being heard in the vacuum of space, whether it be the sound of asteroids, the rockets themselves, or a terrifying nebula ghost.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The ''VideoGame/IndependenceWar'' series has very, VERY noisy space, both in the games themselves and their FMV cutscenes, and makes no apparent attempt to justify it. Particularly odd when it averts other unrealistic space tropes like OldSchoolDogfight.
* Lasers, ship thrusters, explosions, and so on are ''very'' noisy in ''VideoGame/StellarFrontier''.
* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', after escaping a collapsing fortress on the moon via teleporter back to Earth (or whatever the local planet is called), you hear it explode. (From the surface!)
** Played straight in a different way, as scenes taking place in outer space (except in the moon base, of course) have a very blaring background noise that could probably be described as the loudest ambiance ever.
** In ''VideoGame/PaperMario'', space has air in it. That's why Mario can breathe on the Moon, and travel there via cannon.
** Yet in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', Mario almost dies from being suddenly transported to outer space by a magical door. They should put a hazard sign on that door.
* {{Justified|Trope}} in the game ''VideoGame/{{Tyrian}} 2000'': where you can find a data cube that informs you that, in most ships a Mega Sound Chair is installed that amplify the sound waves from the ''very fine particle streams in space'', as to make sure the new pilots wouldn't be driven insane because of the unending silence of space.
* {{Lampshaded}} and then {{Justified|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'', the PC MMORPG. Space is filled with many wondrous sounds, but the game itself acknowledges that there is no sound in space. It justifies the presence of audio in the vacuum by saying that your ship's computer renders the sounds of activities in space in order to create a more reactive environment for the pilot to operate in. Indeed, the in-universe explanation mentions that early capsule technology ''lacked'' any sound, just like "real" space... and the operators found this to be ''profoundly disturbing'' since they could lack auditory stimulation for hours at a time. Therefore the ship provides sound in space to help you [[GoMadFromTheRevelation not go crazy]]. ([[CrapsackWorld er.]]) In space, nobody can hear you scream, but their on-board computer can synthesize the sound for their listening pleasure. Eve is that kind of game.
* ''VideoGame/FreeSpace'' simply follows this trope straight and allows you to hear the engines of vesels that are close, the firing of guns, and lots of big explosions. But ''[=FreeSpace=] 2'' is '''really loud!''' In addition to slow firing plasma guns and a couple of missiles, captial ships have added [[WaveMotionGun beam cannons]] as the primary weapons, smaller rapid firinng anti-fighter beam cannons, [[MacrossMissileMassacre lots more rockets]], and lots of flak turrets to their arsenal. And with the number of ships and relatively short distances, a particularly close run along a capital ship can easily [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hd9qYEMuvs#t=1m30s drown out every other sounds in the game]] (and probably the room as well) for a couple of seconds.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** Oddly enough, even though the series is relatively high up on the Science Fiction Hardness Scale, ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'' does this. The (foot) battle in space even violated what was depicted in earlier canon!
** Played with in the space portion of the ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' mission "Long Night of Solace", where the sound effects are muted except for "space wind". Inverted when you get inside the Covenant corvette. Space is also muted in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' when you're on the outside of the ''Forward Unto Dawn''.
* ''Creator/{{Bungie}}'':
** The first ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' game plays this straight. Sounds in space are the same as when you're in the ship.
** ''Marathon Infinity'' pretty much just decides when it does or doesn't want to use it. There are parts in vacuum levels where there is no sound at all, some where it's creepily quiet (but bullets still make the same sounds), and some where it is, indeed, very loud.
** In ''Videogame/Destiny2'', there is a brief period in the campaign where the player has to step outside the hull of a massive space station orbiting the Sun and fight their way across it in vacuum. During this time, the audio and gunshots of the player's weapon are muffled.
* In the ''VideoGame/WingCommander II'' manual, it's explained that the sounds you hear when flying are generated by your ship's computer, to assist in situational awareness.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' plays this trope almost completely straight,
** There's an exception in one section in the sequel's tutorial mission. Just prior to rescuing Joker from the cockpit, Shepard is temporarily in vacuum, and hears nothing but their own breathing. Even the ''music'' cuts out.
** In VideoGame/MassEffect3, Steve Cortez gives the "auditory emulators" [[{{Handwave}} handwave]]. He sometimes turns them off while watching ships go by...or to watch a krogan anti-air gun take out a Cerberus cruiser in perfect silence. "Beautiful."
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' when the crew is watching a cheesy action movie. When a ship explodes, Kallo points out that the explosion should be silent because it happened in vacuum. Since Kallo is the crew's pilot, [[SitcomArchnemesis Gil]] hopes that Kallo is not speaking from personal experience.
*** Played with on [=H-047c=], where there's no atmosphere [[ApocalypseHow anymore]]. While driving around in the Nomad, the sound is greatly muted, helping to add to the eerie experience.
* ''VideoGame/SinsOfASolarEmpire'' has sound in space by default, but you can turn it off if you so choose.
* In ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', [[spoiler: The fight with Phantoon has sound, even when the air is completely sucked out.]]
* ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'' has an intro scene where Luthor forces Wonder Woman to scream in order to call Super Man from orbit space where he is recharging his powers. "In space no one can hear you scream" even if you scream on earth and they have super hearing.
* ''VideoGame/Portal2'', of all games, although it's not the first liberty the series has taken with the laws of physics. [[spoiler:It may help that there's tons of air being sucked from Aperture Science into the vacuum of ''[[Memes/{{Portal}} SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE]]'' to conduct the sound waves. That excuse doesn't hold for the after-credits scene with Wheatley, however.]] On the other side, Wheatley and the Space Core could just be communicating wirelessly, and as a result, the camera just picks up the wireless communication and lets us hear it, so it appears as if they're actually talking though they're not. Of course, It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's on the Space Core's mind...
* The ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' has noisy space, but interestingly enough, not in cutscenes. Which suggests that, just maybe, auralization is in play.
* ''VideoGame/TachyonTheFringe'' blatantly plays this straight in a description of one of its weapons, a machinegun (all other weapons that fit in that slot are [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]]). The description starts with something like "Once again the sound of machineguns is heard..." If you assume that, in-universe, there is no sound in space, then this line is either some lame attempt at poetic imagery or just plain wrong.
* Justified in ''VideoGame/LegacyOfAThousandSuns'', your implant interfaces with your eyes and ears to make you hear a "Boom!" when you see an explosion.
* Lampshaded at the end of ''VideoGame/SonicColors'', when Eggman is stranded in the vacuum miles from Earth while robot minion Cubot rambles on and on.
-->'''Eggman:''' What I wouldn't give for the maddening silence of space right about now.
* ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'' plays this straight in its sequel, ''Buried In Time'', where one of the time zones is a space station around saturn that you have to get to by using a can of spray cheese with unsually high propulsion power. You can hear yourself breathing in the background and the cheese spray quite clearly.
** The first game in the series goes back and forth with this trope near the end of the Mars Colony time zone. The original ''Turbo'' version had all sorts of Star-Warsy sound effects while you're pursuing the enemy robot's ship, including the weapons you fire. The remake ''Pegasus Prime'' silences most of the noise, but you can still hear the weapons, impacts from space debris, and the sound of the enemy ship overloading its subsystems.
* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoTetris'', where on top of the characters going to space and communicating with each other with no problems, Ess becoming scared when she sees Suketoudara the anthropomorphic fish is accompanied by an UnsoundEffect reading "*screaming loud enough to be heard in the vast vacuum of space*".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' has a scene where a robot is laughing in space while Doc is on the phone to someone about how to take control of it. The author comments in AltText that he had countless emails about sound in space and not one about the lack of mobile reception.
* ''Webcomic/FarOutThere'' lampshades this when a rapidly stopping spaceship [[http://faroutthere.smackjeeves.com/comics/1028454/page-90-dont-never-but-never-cut-off-the-capn makes a tire-squealing sound]].
* ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'' plays this as straight as can be expected of an AffectionateParody of sci-fi tropes. It gets particularly strange, though, [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2010/04/11/kachow/ when a character actually hears a noise coming from outside a space station]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The garbage in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' makes the clinking of glass as it floats through space? Check. The engines make wooshing noises as it dodges between said garbage? Check.
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** They can talk while on the moon or flying around in space.
** Averted in the comics: On one occasion Galvatron tries to speak to Unicron in space but his speech bubbles are blank until the latter suggests "speak with your MIND!" Also, Blaster and Grimlock fail to notice a huge war happening a short distance away because they're on the moon and not looking in that direction. Not one sound effect was used during that sequence. However, due to the comlink thing, Blaster and Grimlock are able to speak.
** Special mention must be made for the ''WesternAnimated/TransformersAnimated'' episode "A Fistful of Energon" where Starscream actually ''acknowledges'' that they are in an airless vacuum.
--->'''Starscream:''' Hey! You call this a fight? I'll rust before someone wins! And I'm in a vacuum.
* The Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse plays it straight with sound effects, but averts it with voices: Everyone who talks in space are clearly seen as using electronic means to communicate. Except for Lobo, who talks in space unaided due to the RuleOfFunny.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Bubbled", the characters spend much of the episode talking in a vacuum. The episode in general is a case of ArtisticLicenseSpace, complete with the titular magic bubble bouncing through an AsteroidThicket like a pinball.
* The main cast of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'' can talk to each other in space, and Kaeloo was once shown ''yelling'' audibly at Mr. Cat while floating in space.
* Lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' "[[Recap/FuturamaS7E23GameOfTones Game of Tones]]": A spaceship is blasting a tune in space, and Professor Farnsworth angrily complains that "In his day, sound obeyed the laws of physics!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Even mighty NASA, it seems, [[http://web.archive.org/web/20130607132523/http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/audio/MissionOverview-HQversions.web.mov falls victim to this trope.]] Rocket noise and separation charges and so forth. They even seem to have launched up a record player along with it. There's air ''inside'' the ship, obviously. At least one documentary has explosions producing sound effects in space, though probably for dramatic effect.
* Although it is true that no sound could travel in an absolute vacuum, space is not a true vacuum, but is actually filled with an ''extremely'' thin gas. This means that [[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_030922.html sound CAN travel in space]] — although it takes a very loud sound and a very sensitive ear to hear it. As a notable example, the chaotic gas surrounding a particular black hole about 250 million light-years away produces a sound (detected by observing the ripples it causes with the Chandra X-ray Observatory satellite) — a [[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/blackhole_note_030909.html B-flat,]] to be precise.
* [[https://twitter.com/NASAExoplanets/status/1561442514078314496 NASA actually managed to successfully record the sound produced from a black hole.]][[note]]This particular recording is amplified and mixed with other data[[/note]] [[HellIsThatNoise Enjoy the soothing sounds of a]] ''[[HellIsThatNoise real]]'' CosmicHorror!
* From the [[UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} Apollo Program]], there's an example of [[http://web.archive.org/web/20160402053419/http://blog.moonzoo.org:80/2011/07/18/sounds-on-the-moon hammer sounds on the Moon.]] Which may have been conducted through the ground, the astronaut, and into the mic. Solids are media too!
* At the very beginning of the universe, before expansion got very far, everything in existence was close enough together for sound waves to travel normally. Here's an approximation of [[https://youtu.be/kpchtF6KnMg the sound of the entire universe's first million years.]]
[[/folder]]

!!Exceptions:

[[folder:Advertising]]
* In the Super Bowl ad for Denny's free Grand Slam, when the chicken screams in space, no noise is heard.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/MagicUsersClub'' has a silent intro until the invading alien ship enters the atmosphere.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' in all its permutations has been quite good at utilizing more or less real world physics, with the exception of the underlying technology of the "[[MinovskyPhysics Minovsky Particle]]" [[MagicAIsMagicA which has many interesting, but well-defined properties]] (In fact, the Minovsky Particle ''requires'' them to pay more attention to the limitations of radio and laser communication).
** They still frequently have sound effects in space battles, though. Sometimes this is HandWaved as being generated by the mobile suit's combat computer for the pilot's benefit. They do usually get the bit about touching to talk right, but a few times we see characters communicating by radio when it's supposed to be jammed (although it could be one of their "laser comm channels", but those are supposed to be reserved for emergencies, while there's often a lot of chatter going on in the show).
** It is also possible that the Minovsky Particles themselves, which are usually broadcast by ships before and during battles, could possibly be used as a medium to transmit sound.
** In one small instance in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', Kamille who is caught up in the moment ends up opening his helmet while in space resulting in the sound immediately cutting off, making it clear that all the sounds the viewer hears are only there for their benefit.
* Averted, like many many more ArtisticLicenseSpace tropes, in ''Manga/{{Planetes}}''. EVA scenes have only the sounds that you actually can hear inside the space suit, such as the hissing of air, as well as their communication and maneuvering systems. When it shows establishing shots of ships, stations, or Luna City, all we hear is music.
* Much like ''Planetes'', it's hard to tell due to the music and dialogue, but there is no sound in space in ''Anime/GunXSword''. This is most noticeable when [[spoiler:Michael destroys Dann of Thursday's satellite -- silently]].
* ''Anime/ShinguSecretOfTheStellarWars'' averts this, much of the time with comments such as "Sound... In space?" which is later explained to be merely the work of the characters projecting the scene. However, some moments do seem to go along with the trope, such as Muryou yelling at Nayuta in space. Still, it is possible that this is simply attributed to telepathy as he tries to speak.
* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in, of all things, ''Anime/StrikeWitches''. In episode 6 of the second series, when Sanya and Eila reach the near-space altitude of 33,333 meters, all sound cuts out except for the soundtrack, a vocal song sung by Eila's [[Creator/MaiKadowaki seiyuu]].
* ''Anime/Macross7'' actually goes to some lengths to justify everyone being able to hear the main characters' singing while in space. Basara's Valkyrie is armed with "speaker pods" rather than normal ammunition, which burrow into an enemy ship's cockpit, seal themselves in (preventing decompression), and then start transmitting his music. Later, after they figure out that Basara's singing is being used as a medium to transmit his "anima spiritia", they instead build machines that are able to harness this spiritia and transmit it as coherent energy beams (labelled "Song Energy" by their inventor), which also seem able to carry sound waves through vacuum. Later ''Macross'' series justify it as the music being propagated through Fold Waves, usually with Fold Quartz or Fold Bacteria around to pick up said waves and translate them into sound.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Audio Plays]]
* Averted in the ''AudioPlay/BlakesSeven'' audio "Warship", where the progress of the plasma explosion is given by Zen's countdown and by the sudden silencing of the Andromedan transmissions. (Played straight earlier, though, when we hear Megiddo explode.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Board Games]]
* Invoked in ''TabletopGame/BattleFleetMars'' [[http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3t.html#misc intro]] by Redmond Simonsen:
--> No sound, mused Ulans, no bang. They should put sound effects on these things so that you could hear a bang when you made a shot. The slight vibration and the glow on the screen wasn't enough. No real way to relate to that. Should be some noise.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Exception in ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'': Superman of the 853rd Century flies out of the atmosphere with a cry of "Up, Up and ".
* Averted in the ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' story ''[[Recap/TintinExplorersOnTheMoon Explorers on the Moon]]'', in which a meteorite impact on the moon is silent and the characters explain for the benefit of younger readers why this is so.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in one issue of the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics''' ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' tie-in. Which points out that, while there is no sound in space, they're going with artistic license.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'', the first time Invincible fights Allen the Alien is in space. To communicate, they talk telepathically.
* Anything written by Bob Budinsky. Unlike many writers he always makes sure that absolutely no sound effects are present in space scenes. This even played a role in the plot of a ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel Transformers]]'' issue he wrote where Blaster and Grimlock didn't notice a fight in a crater on the moon because they couldn't hear it.
* In one issue of ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons Comics'', Homer’s nerdy friend Doug gets involved in the production of a science fiction movie. To keep the science realistic, he removes all sound from the space scenes. Everyone hates the movie, except for Comic Book Guy who declares it a triumph.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* Parodied in an early ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' comic, which had a balding, lab-coated scientist jump up in the middle of a crowded theater to protest "Stop the Movie! Stop the Movie! Explosions don't go 'BOOM!' in a vacuum!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Animation]]
* The {{anime}} film ''Anime/{{Akira}}'' has a short scene in space (Tetsuo attacking [[KillSat Sol]]), where there is actually ''no sound at all''.
* Averted, surprisingly, in ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'': the rocket is plenty noisy on launch but, when it rises above the atmosphere, we hear nothing but the background music.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', possibly the first movie to have soundless space. The movie is especially notable for making dramatic use of the absence of sound, with the characters' breath inside their suits being the only thing we hear. Its sequel, ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'', plays this trope straight.
* Turns out the Soviets got there first in 1957. ''Film/RoadToTheStars'' shows a cosmonaut exiting a RetroRocket in his 'hermetic suit' for a spacewalk.
-->'''TheNarrator:''' Emptiness. Not a trace of atmosphere and subsequently -- silence. Complete and eternal silence.
* The 1972 film, ''Film/SilentRunning'' is completely faithful to silent space -- even in the case of a nuclear explosion.
* In the movie ''Film/RobotJox'' the two titular robot jox take their final battle up into space. The villain shoots the good guy with a missile and there is no accompanying kaboom in the wide shot, just the soundtrack.
* Averted in ''Film/{{Gravity}}'', which like 2001 tries to play space as realistically as possible, including the lack of sound - or, rather, carefully elaborated ''real space sound''. Scenes play with just the soundtrack and sounds that an astronaut would actually hear, like vibrations of the boarding, their own breath and radio communication. Sadly, the trope is instead played straight in most of [[NeverTrustATrailer Gravity's official trailers]] which added sound effects for collisions and even a few whooshes.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** Several space scenes in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' lack sound effects, save for BGM and any sounds in space suits. This is not universal within the film, however.
** Partial exception in ''Film/StarTrek2009''. Space is still noisy in most scenes, as with battles and ships entering and dropping out of warp, but in scenes with people in space there is only a faint ethereal hum or breathing noise (reminiscent of ''2001''). Of particular note is when the camera sees a USS ''Kelvin'' crewmember get [[ThrownOutTheAirlock spaced]] through a hull breach during the attack of the ''Narada''. You hear the rush of air out of the airlock, then the moment she crosses the breach, [[AndIMustScream not a thing]]. Probably to emphasize the fact that she just got deprived of her precious oxygen. This led [[http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/05/08/ba-review-star-trek/ Bad Astronomy]] to say he wanted to ''"kiss J.J. Abrams right on the mouth"''. Likewise, tension is built up during the dive onto the drill by having the away team eject from the shuttle [[MoodWhiplash into complete silence]], then slowly adding sound as the atmosphere gets thicker.
* The movie ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' features a spectacular and noisy battle between an Alliance fleet and a Reaver fleet, which actually took place in the upper atmosphere of Mr. Universe's planet.
** In an earlier scene, the Serenity uses a newly mounted external cannon to blow up a Reaver ship in deep space. The cannon's shots are absolutely audible . . . [[GeniusBonus but heavily muted as if the sound is actually the force vibrations that would be heard inside the spacesuit worn by the man firing the cannon.]]
* In ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' we only hear sounds from inside the spacecraft and spacesuits in all the outer space scenes.
* The drama ''Film/HighLife'' realistically depicts the lack of sound in space.
* In ''Film/FirstMan'', when Armstrong and Aldrin open the hatch on the LEM, all ambient noise immediately stops. For the rest of their stay on the moon, the only sounds are the soundtrack, radio transmissions, and their breathing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Creator/HBeamPiper described ships blowing up in ''Space Viking'' as doing so "eerily silently".
* In the Creator/WilliamShatner Franchise/StarTrek ExpandedUniverse novels, there are several scenes that take place in vacuum and are noted to be completely silent. The only time when sound is heard is when it's felt through vibrations carried through space suits, including one scene where Kirk's radio is broken, causing [[spoiler:his mirror universe counterpart Tiberius]] to press their faceplates together so he can taunt him.
* Also happens in one of the ''Series/RedDwarf'' novels, where a murderous android floating in space presses his mouth to Lister's space helmet so he can (barely) hear him talking.
* In ''Literature/TheFirstMenInTheMoon'', Cavor explicitely points out that the astronauts have to touch their helmets to communicate on the moon, since there is no air and they have no radio comm.
* In Creator/DavidDrake's ''Literature/{{RCN}}'' series, because electromagnetic radiation outside the hull would be bad when traveling at FTL speeds, the crew [[SpaceIsAnOcean working the sails]] can communicate only by hand and arm signals, touching helmets together, or using a sound-conductive rod touching two helmets. Commands from inside the ship are relayed by a mechanical semaphore.
* The silence of space is portrayed with predictable realism in Creator/GregEgan's ''Literature/{{Orthogonal}}'' trilogy, but the aversion is especially notable because it forces an interesting use of NarrativeShapeshifting: Because the {{Shapeshifting}} {{Starfish Alien}}s can't talk to each other while in space, they "write" notes on their skin to communicate with each other.
* Averted in Peter David's ''Literature/StarTrekNewFrontier'' series. In ''Dark Allies'', after extensive study the unstoppable Black Mass is discovered to actually have a weakness to sonic weapons. As Captain Calhoun bitterly notes, for this discovery to be useful all they need to do is change the laws of physics so that sound can exist in a vacuum.
* Averted in the novelization of ''Film/TheBlackHole'', among other moments when the surviving members of the "Palomino" are running to the probe ship through the exterior of the "Cygnus" and they can feel through their suits the vibrations of the latter being torn apart.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In the 2-part ''Series/{{BUGS}}'' episode, "What Goes Up..."/"Must Come Down", Ed removes an unstable fuel cell from a space shuttle, and after jettisoning it into space, it's completely silent when it explodes.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** In the serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace "The Ark in Space"]], a spacecraft is shown exploding on a viewscreen in silence, a moment which is more effective for the lack of noise.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays "The Parting of the Ways"]] also used the silence of space to good effect when [[spoiler:Lynda]] is exterminated. The Dalek appears outside the space station window and we sees its lights flash ''as though'' it is saying "Ex-ter-min-ate!" before it shots the window out — but we hears nothing except [[spoiler:Lynda]]'s scream.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' rendered space as soundless, with nothing but [[MickeyMousing appropriate background music]] playing during various scenes. The space battles that so many sci-fi shows require were avoided by establishing in dialogue (in the second episode) that since the main characters' vessel ''Serenity'' was a cargo transport, it didn't have any kind of weapon system, and it made no sound even when "going for hard burn". In cases where noise was expected if they were in an atmosphere (engine powering up, someone ''else'' shooting, etc.), the ships make appropriate noises.
** An exception is made for the major space battle in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', but this is justified as WordOfGod confirms that the ships fighting were technically in the atmosphere of the nearest planet.
* In ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto'', the opening scene is an asteroid falling from space - completely silent.
* ''Series/StarCops'' had no sound in space except radio transmissions and the background music.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** In the early days of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', the battles were depicted as soundless. Eventually, ExecutiveMeddling brought about the change. ''Star Trek'' has had noisy space ever since.
** One episode in particular had the ''Enterprise'' bombarding a surface target. The surface scene had the usual phaser noise. The cut to the ''Enterprise'' in orbit was silent. In the third cut, back to the surface, the phaser noise returns.
** The standard intro in the first few episodes had the ''Enterprise'' silently move past the camera. That felt "dead" so the swish was added, and remained there for the rest of the series.
** One ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode got it right: a character arrives on the bridge just as a battle wraps up, and treats the camera to the soundless vista of the ''Defiant'' blowing away a Jem'hadar ship. Whether this was [[WatsonianVersusDoylist an attempt at realism or a production oversight]] is not known at this time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pinball]]
* Averted in the ''Pinball/{{Defender}}'' pinball, which omits any background sounds to make the game match its VideoGame namesake. Some players find the unusual silence rather disturbing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Many space-based videogames leave it up to the player to decide whether this trope gets played straight or not by having the option to disable the sound effects via volume control.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'', battling in the very high atmosphere won't make any noise. However, battling in outer space will.
* Averted as well in ''VideoGame/ChzoMythos'' game ''Seven Days a Skeptic''. There are circumstances where you have to get out of the ship where the game takes place in a space suit. The only thing you can hear is the sound of your breath inside the suit. Not surprising, since Yahtzee actually intended it to be a ShoutOut of ''2001: A Space Odyssey''.
* Averted in ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' -- in the vacuum segments of the game, nothing makes noise unless it's actually in physical contact with your character, and even then, it's usually muffled. Combined with ''even the soundtrack going dead'', this can be problematic, as the primary way to tell necromorphs are around before they're right on top of you is that they're ''incredibly noisy''. Their footstep sound can actually be heard traveling through the ship floor, not that it helps much with the ones that don't walk their way to you. Also, the sequels let you fly in vacuum.
* Averted for use of an effect in ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'', where the Rising Dragon tech [[MegatonPunch knocks the target up into outer space]] and at the highest point actually ''stops the game music''.
* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] and [[AvertedTrope averted]] in ''VideoGame/ShatteredHorizon'': All the action takes place in the vacuum of space, and the player's space suit has an on-board computer that ''simulates'' the sort of noises the player would hear if sound could travel in space, to aid the player's situational awareness. However, going into stealth mode by disabling your on-board computer removes almost all sounds, aside from the sound of your own breathing and the low thumping of your own machine gun.
* A predictable aversion in ''VideoGame/{{Orbiter}}'', since it tries to be a realistic spaceflight simulator.
* ''VideoGame/TheOrionConspiracy'' [[AvertedTrope averts]] this trope. Every cutscene taking place in space is ''dead'' silent. There are people talking in one of these cutscenes, but they are using radio to accomplish this.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Oolite}}'', most of the noises you hear are electronically rendered by your cockpit and concern your ship's status. You don't hear passing ships, streaking missiles, etc. You only hear enemy lasers or missiles when they impact your shields or hull. Even your own engines are completely silent, aside from Witchspace jumps and using your injectors for a speed boost.
* ''VideoGame/{{Zaxxon}}'' has noisy "space wind" throughout the gameplay.
* One of the maps in ''VideoGame/MechWarrior Online'', HPG Manifold, is on an airless moon and averts this trope by only letting the player hear sounds that could be transmitted through their 'Mech (weapons firing, impacts, stepping, jump-jets). This can make it confusing in the heat of battle as you can't hear weapons fire from other 'Mechs or impacts against the terrain which normally can alert you to an enemy drawing a bead on you. Using third-person view, via [[InUniverseCamera a UAV that hovers behind your 'Mech]], effectively mutes everything except HUD sounds, the onboard Betty, and both VOIP and quick radio messages.
* The EVA sequences in ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'' are pretty much silent except for things physically touching the players space suit, or touching something that is touching your space suit. If the player is using headphones, the game will actually appropriately distort the perceived directions of some noises.
* Although the game ''VideoGame/{{Rodina}}'' has mostly accurate physics, guns, engines, and ship destructions are all audible to the player.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyInfiniteWarfare'', works around this by having the capital ships and starfighter pilot helmets enable artificial audio.
* ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacingNitroFueled'' briefly mutes all audio in a section during Oxide Station where the player enters open space to jump from one platform to another.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'''s [[ConspiracyTheorist Ron Jakowski]] mentions this in his segment on Blaine County Radio with a fossil fuel lobbyist when they disparage science as being wrong because they maintain sound does not carry in space, yet all science fiction movies are loud. As we are led to disbelieve most of what comes out of these characters' mouths, we can accept that Grand Theft Auto is at least correct on this trope.
* ''Videogame/HardspaceShipbreaker:'' You need to upgrade your suit with a small module that'll synthetize sounds out of the events nearby and pipe them into your helmet to hear anything other than what you're touching while working in unpressurized spaces, and need to buy upgrades to give it better range in its readings. It's not perfect, either, if you compare it with what you hear in pressurized spaces.
* Played with in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland''. When you battle Raphael the Raven on a moon, your jumps and ground-pounds still have sound effects, but if you get hit and Baby Mario flies off of your back, he doesn't cry, the only time this happens.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' makes sure to [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-06-01 get this one right]] (and pats itself on the back for doing so). And again [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-06-06 here.]]
* Strip 12 of [[http://www.atomictoy.org/comics/omfe/ OMFE]] has an orbital cannon fire with an almighty [[UnsoundEffect NOSOUNDINSPACE]].
* ''Webcomic/BobTheAngryFlower'': When Lovebot is saving the day in space even the narrator has trouble following events without sound.
* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' there is [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/44 a silent pop followed by a silent kaboom.]]
* Averted and lampshaded in ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'', as seen in the opening quote and [[http://narbonic.com/comic/january-20-25-2003/ the fifth strip]] of the linked week.
* Possibly by accident in ''Webcomic/GetMedieval''. A {{near miss|es}} fired [[http://get-medieval.livejournal.com/226663.html at the heroes while they were preparing for takeoff from the moon]] is accompanied by a KABOOM! -- which makes perfect sense, since the shot ''hit'' the moon and the sound can be conveyed through the regolith. (This does not stop people in the [[Website/LiveJournal comments section]] from hypothesizing some kind of glancing blow to explain the noise.)
* A similar variation appears in ''Webcomic/AMiracleOfScience'' with the [[http://project-apollo.net/mos/mos234.html sound of]] [[http://project-apollo.net/mos/mos235.html an army of deadly deadly robots being]] transferred through the lunar regolith and the space suits of the characters (who are talking to each other using suit radios).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Averted in ''Roleplay/DarwinsSoldiers'' whenever space or the inside of a wormhole is involved. In one case, Ricky whispers his last words to James, who can't hear them because they're in a wormhole.
* [[http://amarvodyssey.ytmnd.com/ i dunno if you've ever been to space, but it's pretty loud]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Possible exception in the fifth season finale of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', where a fusion device is transported into space just before it explodes with a muted-but-audible thud. It seems likely that the writers were aware of this, but felt that the RuleOfCool warranted ''some'' kind of noise.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' episode "Salvage", the Justice League sets up a network of satellites in space to block teleportation from off-world. During the scene where the satellites activate and produce the semi-transparent shield around the Earth, there is no sound at all, save for some light music.
* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' "Not a Sound". Jet and Sydney are convinced that there are sounds in space, but then they learn that there isn't. However, they can still hear each other through their helmets, but only because there is air in their helmets.
* ''WesternAnimation/LoveDeathAndRobots''. Averted in "Helping Hand". The various ''Film/{{Alien}}'' {{Shout Out}}s may have something to do with this, as the protagonist demonstrates that in space they really can't hear you scream as the audience is shown a soundless shot of her screaming in anguish as she becomes adrift in space.
[[/folder]]

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