[TheForge] The Smell of Space - sorta OT

[Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer]

Rob;
Isn't that more likely to be the smell of the suit pulled to it's 
surface by the vacuum of space?...pf

Rob Fertner wrote:
> "The following are from a series of articles on the NASA website  by ISS
> Science Officer Don Pettit:
> 
> 
> The Smell of Space
> 
> Few people have experienced traveling into space. Even fewer have
> experienced the smell of space. Now this sounds strange, that a vacuum could
> have a smell and that a human being could live to smell that smell. It seems
> about as improbable as listening to sounds in space, yet space has a
> definite smell. Being creatures of an atmosphere, we can only smell space
> indirectly. Sort of like the way a pit viper smells by waving its tongue in
> the air and then pressing it to the roof of its mouth where sensors process
> the molecules that have been adsorbed onto the waggling appendage. I had the
> pleasure of operating the airlock for two of my crewmates while they went on
> several space walks. 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. 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."
> 
> 
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