When you get high enough above the Earth where there is so little air that you have a vacuum we call this “outer space”. So outer space is not really empty but it is nearly empty of atoms and molecules. In addition all space including outer space has what physicists call “vacuum energy” (sometimes it is call zero point energy). This is a property of all space including the space inside our homes where little particles of matter are constantly being created and destroyed. Normally this effect is so small that we don’t notice it even in outer space. It takes special equipment to measure it.

Finally the space inside the solar system is filled with radiation consisting of stuff called a plasma that the Sun shoots out (a plasma is made up of atoms that have been blown apart so all you have are the atom’s electrons and the nucleus individually hitting you very hard) as well as other particles called cosmic rays and lots of sunlight radiation plus some other nasty stuff.

So the first answer to your question is that outer space isn’t technically empty but for all practical purposes it is empty of normal matter but filled with a whole host of other nasty stuff which requires that you wear some protection if you want to work out there. There is also a video available that comments on more recent theories about how empty outer space really is at http://www.ucsd.tv/search-details.asp?showID=5551. The video is rather long (43 minutes) but you might enjoy it.

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