• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Astronauts reveal what space smells like and it sounds disgusting

Home> Science> Space

Published 16:05 26 Aug 2024 GMT+1

Astronauts reveal what space smells like and it sounds disgusting

We're not sure what we were expecting, but it wasn't this

Emily McIntyre

Emily McIntyre

Going to space is something that only a very few select people will get to do in their life time.

And whilst the concept might be exciting for some, for most of us back on Earth, it's actually pretty terrifying, as there's still so much we don't know about space.

Luckily for us, astronauts that have made the intense journey, can answer our burning questions - One of them being, what does it smell like up there?

If you've ever wondered this, well, there's a quick and easy technical answer: true space is a vacuum and you wouldn't be able to smell anything whatsoever up there.

Advert

However, most people are probably referring to what it's like aboard something like the International Space Station (ISS) and for that, there's been quite a bit of discussion.

SCIEPRO / Getty
SCIEPRO / Getty

It turns out that quite a few astronauts have discussed this question after coming back down to Earth from the ISS.

Steve Pearce, a biochemist and CEO of Omega Ingredients, has been trying to make a bespoke scent for NASA to show people what it smelled like up there.

In order to do this, happarently went through hours of interview footage and written memoirs to see what different astronauts reported smelling.

According to Live Science, the final combination mixed together "hot metal, burnt meat, burnt cakes, spent gunpowder and welding of metal".

We can't say that sounds the most appealing.

Going into a little more individual detail, American astronaut Don Pettit wrote a blog post for NASA back in 2012 where he described the smell.

He said: "The best description I can come up with is metallic; a rather pleasant sweet metallic sensation. It reminded me of my college summers where I labored for many hours with an arc welding torch repairing heavy equipment for a small logging outfit. It reminded me of pleasant sweet smelling welding fumes. That is the smell of space."

Whilst that doesn't sound as bad, there are repeat mentions in interviews with astronauts of the lurking smell of garbage.

peepo / Getty
peepo / Getty

Sense of smell is very important up in space, as pointed out in a Reddit thread on this topic a few months ago.

American astronaut Scott Kelly found that his sense of smell helped him to work out when there was too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

With complex calibration required on devices to filter this out and keep people breathing healthy air, Kelly reported that after some time in space he could "sense the levels with a high degree of accuracy based only on the symptoms I’ve come to know so well: headaches, congestion, burning eyes, irritability. Perhaps the most dangerous symptom is impairment to cognitive function".

Well, you might not be able to visit the ISS, but you can at least image what it smells like.

Featured Image Credit: Westend61/Julian Ward/Getty Images
Space
Nasa
Science

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

2 days ago
  • Tom Werner / Getty
    2 days ago

    Man who did 300 kettlebell swings every day for 30 days reveals what it did to his body

    If this doesn't get you off the sofa, nothing will

    Science
  • NASA
    2 days ago

    NASA gives look into Orion's close quarters that will house astronauts around Moon and everyone has the same concern

    It's not exactly a five-star stay

    Science
  • Facebook/Martha Lillard
    2 days ago

    Woman who has used iron lung for over 65 years recalls horrifying moment she was trapped in machine

    She's the last known person in the US to use the machine

    Science
  • SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty
    2 days ago

    Pancreatic cancer symptoms explained as research for cure hits major milestone

    Catching pancreatic cancer early is the key to survival

    Science
  • Astronauts reveal ‘disgusting’ reality of what space really smells like and it's not what anyone expected
  • NASA astronaut describes exactly what space smells like and it's not what you'd expect
  • NASA issue statement as astronauts enter brutal quarantine before making furthest journey since 1972
  • The secret team keeping astronauts alive 250 miles above Earth