This weekend, Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station discovered something shocking when they opened the hatch of an unmanned supply craft: It smelled really bad.
Like, “immediately close the hatch and put on a protective suit” bad.
That’s what the cosmonauts did, per Ars Technica, in addition to activating “an extra air-scrubbing system.”
So, what was the smell?
Nobody knows!
- NASA reported that air quality levels in the ISS were normal.
- But US astronauts said they smelled “spray paint” and the cosmonauts claimed the smell was “toxic.”
- Ars notes that Russian spacecraft have had leaks in the past, but it’s still unclear what caused this smell.
Whatever it was…
… space smells enough already:
- Astronauts have reported smelling gunpowder and burnt steak after returning from spacewalks, per Space.com.
- Comets surrounded by stinky gasses, including hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, have been found.
- Saturn’s moon Titan is full of hydrocarbons like methane and benzene, and apparently smells like gasoline.
The good news is that there’s no air in space, so it’s unlikely that you’d ever be in a situation where you could smell this stuff. If you were, it would be the least of your problems.
Topics:
Space
