Each time, when I repressed the airlock, opened the hatch and welcomed two tired workers inside, a peculiar odor tickled my olfactory senses. At first I couldn't quite place it. It must have come from the air ducts that re-pressed the compartment. Then I noticed that this smell was on their suit, helmet, gloves, and tools. It was more pronounced on fabrics than on metal or plastic surfaces. It is hard to describe this smell; it is definitely not the olfactory equivalent to describing the palette sensations of some new food as “tastes like chicken.” The best description I can come up with is metallic; a rather pleasant sweet metallic sensation.
— NASA ISS (International Space Station) Science Officer Don Pettit, from Expedition Six, Space Chronicles #4, found via Boing Boing.
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Sweet, pleasant, metallic – I'll keep that in mind when looking up to the stars next time. I like the idea of space smelling like that!
Love that. Thank you.
What a great find, R. I've always imagined it smelled very…human…up there; how satisfying to have the smell described by someone who's genuinely analysing it. And a bloke at that!
Thanks so much for this! I've always wished they'd send some writers and artists up there so we could hear more details like this one.
And it's very curious to me that I'm not surprised by this description. In fact, I feel like maybe I tested a perfume like that once…from the CDC line, perhaps?
How wonderful! The nerd part of me is wondering what it's from (radiation from the sun or something), but I also appreciate that outer space has a scent (and that it's not a fruity floral). Reminds me of C.S. Lewis' science fiction trilogy.
And this whole series is great – thanks for bringing it to our attention. Twenty years ago, who would have thought that we'd be reading a blog posted from space, as it were?
I like the idea too
Thank Boing Boing — one of my favorite sites!
CdG ought to have a “Space” series, LOL…
NASA's website is seriously wonderful — they do a much better job than most govt. agencies. My son manages to while away some time there
Thanks for posting this, it is fascinating. I had never thought about space or working in space having a smell. Nasa should send perfumers and organic chemists up there to investigate.
This is fascinating. If there's no air, how can space have a smell? I think they're smelling the space station itself: metal, plastics, etc.
You'll love this (NASA sends a rose into space):
http://tinyurl.com/38vf3v
Beats me!
Think of all the metal compositions up there … must be in the purest form. I wonder where the sweetness comes from… Thanks for posting this!
that is really cool. I wish there was more detail about how the scent molecule's structures differed from those released on earth. I guess that info is both proprietary and not of that much interest to the general public. I bet if I had an Astroculture enclosure my houseplants wouldn't die so often.
While on Expedition 6 to the International Space Station, Don Pettit wrote a series called “Space Chronicles.” Check it out at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp6/spacechronicles.html
He also wrote “Chronicles on Ice” while in Antartica:
http://www.humanedgetech.com/expedition/nasa/
Fantastic article, thanks for finding it! I'm such a nerd, it was absolute poetry for me!
Thanks!
I'm a nerd too
Sort of the scent version of the “music of the spheres”…
Goodness, never realized that space has a smell!!
Think outside the box is very applicable to me then