What Does Space Smell Like? NASA Astronauts Explain The Stench

What does space smell like? While we may think of the vacuum of space as an odorless area outside of our noses reach at least one astronaut claims that space has a smell that is its very own.

The smell was first revealed by NASA astronaut Kevin Ford during a discussion while in orbit back in 2009. The conversation just recently surfaced and apparently the smell is only experienced after the astronaut returns from their spacewalks.

Inside the space suit astronauts only smell a plastic-y residue, however once inside and after removing their helmets the smell of space clings to their tools, gloves and other space gear.

So what is the smell? Scientists are guessing its atomic oxygen. Astronauts who have experienced the smell say it is like seared steak mixed with welding fumes and hot metal.

Chemists Steven Pearce has tried to recreate the smell for training purposes and he believes the metallic smell could be caused by high-energy vibrations of ions.

Lifeslittlemysteries discovered this tidbit of information during astronaut Ford’s recollection of his 2009 mission:

“It’s like something I haven’t ever smelled before, but I’ll never forget it.”

Also commenting about a mission in 2003 was astronaut Don Pettit who wrote on the NASA Blog:

“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. 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.”

Apparently we can’t see dark matter but we can definitely get a sniff of space, I guess that’s a start.