Black Holes ain't so black...

[Suicide Junkie]

Originally posted by Slick:
Nothing special happens as something passes thru the event horizon - it's simply the point of no return to "outside" the black hole. If you were in a ship, you couldn't see any barrier nor would you feel any different as you passed through. Your fate would be sealed (though you might not know it yet) as you would soon be ripped to shreads as you got closer to the center of the black hole. This has been called in slang "spaghettification" as matter is stretched and pulled apart - those silly astrophysicists! What will eventually kill you (if you aren't bLasted by other incoming matter or radiation) is the point where the force of gravity is significantly higher on one part of your body than another due to being close to the center. This occurs closer to the center than the event horizon and may, for supermassive black holes, take some time to reach.

Slick.

Well, for most holes, you'd be spaghettified before you reach the horizon. Neutron stars could do that to you too.
You need the supermassive galactic core type holes in order to reduce the effect to the point where you and your ship can survive at the horizon.