suspended animation link
In this story Buck is frozen in a precise mixture of gases. I guess these gases penetrated his ship's hull without damaging it.
In the book Armageddon 2419 A.D.: The Seminal "Buck Rogers" Novel, Buck is trapped in a cave-in for almost 500 years by a mixture of gases.
"They would turn me back into a dog," said Towser.
"And me," said Fowler, "back into a man."