Astronaut Thomas Jones said it "carries a distinct odor of ozone, a faint acrid smell…a little like gunpowder, sulfurous." Tony Antonelli, another space-walker, said space "definitely has a smell that's different than anything else." A gentleman named Don Pettit was a bit more verbose on the topic: "Each time, when I ...

Why Does space have a smell?

We can't smell space directly, because our noses don't work in a vacuum. But astronauts aboard the ISS have reported that they notice a metallic aroma – like the smell of welding fumes – on the surface of their spacesuits once the airlock has re-pressurised.

How do they smell space?

Over a decade ago, NASA chemists developed a scent that mimics the “smell of space” in order to give astronauts a whiff of the cosmos before they left Earth's atmosphere. ... According to Eau de Space, others have described the smell as “seared steak, raspberries, and rum,” smokey and bitter.