Nasa files reveal the Moon smells of ASH (Image: getty)
The late Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the Moon, said it smelled “like the scent of wet ashes”. To crewmate Buzz Aldrin, now 89, the odour was like “the smell in the air after a firecracker has gone off”. Back on Earth, Nasa bosses barely mentioned the smell. And nobody warned Apollo 15 lunar module pilot Jim Irwin or other astronauts on future missions about it.
SPACE LOG: Armstrong, Aldrin and the first mission (Image: Getty)
When Irwin told Mission Control: “There’s a funny smell in here” they said it was simply “lunar dirt”.
The unique smell is revealed in America’s Smithsonian magazine marking next month’s 50th anniversary of the first landing. It says a total of 842lb of rocks and dust from six lunar landings was brought to Earth but the smell vanished after being exposed to air and moisture on the journey.
No one has yet found out what causes the “Moon smell” or why it resembles spent gunpowder. But, it seems, the handful of space pioneers who have got a good whiff never forget it.
Geologist Harrison Schmitt, who flew on two Apollo missions said the smell “was like someone had been firing a carbine”.
Late Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad recalled the “very distinctive smell”, adding: “I’ll never forget. And I’ve never smelled it again since then.”
