# I Love the Smell of Space in the Morning. . .

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-smell-of-space-in-the-morning/468379>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 17, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-smell-of-space-in-the-morning/468379 "2008-10-17T15:00:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-smell-of-space-in-the-morning/468379/1 "2008-10-17T15:00:06Z")

</div>

[It smells like steak and hot metal!](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1078215/Ever-wondered-space-smells-like-Fried-steak-hot-metal-say-scientists.html)

> [@](#):
>
> Outer space smells like fried steak, hot metal and welding a motorbike, scientists said today.
> 
> Nasa has commissioned Steven Pearce, a chemist and managing director of fragrance manufacturing company Omega Ingredients, to recreate the smell of space in a laboratory.
> 
> His research will be used to help astronauts prepare for the conditions they will encounter in space.

Robot probes are cool and all, but they _still_ ain’t got a nose.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-love-the-smell-of-space-in-the-morning/468379/2 "2008-10-17T15:12:37Z")

</div>

Apparently it’s not the smell of space, but the smell of an in-use space capsule, which isn’t nearly as romantic-sounding. It’s a small, enclosed space inhabited by several people doing everything they do over a long period of time, with no way to vent it. You’d think it would have the same ambience as a submarine. Or a small car after a Road Trip. Lots of sweat, various body odors, the smell of cooked food, and add in random fuel smells and industrial smells from ongoing experiments.

Yeah, I could believe the fried steak, hot metal, and welding part. I guess they’re too polite to mention the sweat sink and farting. But you’d think this would be easy to duiplicate – stick a couple of guys in an enclosed metal space and have them east and do experiments there, and I’ll bet you get the same smells.

By way of comparison, I note a common observation among people who work with vacuum – the inside of high vacuum systems stink. You wouldn’t think they would – after all , they’ve had anything that would be adsorbed onto it pulled off. The vacuum would make anything that stuck to the walls eventually diffuse off. The inside of a vacuum system, after you let clean dry air or dry nitrogen, shouldn’t smell like _anything_.

But it does. It stinks. Damned if I know why.