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Quick & curious · Space

To Apollo astronauts, moondust smelled like gunpowder.

That's what Apollo astronauts reported after tracking the clingy dust into their lunar module.

Astronaut Jack Schmitt in his spacesuit on the Moon, suit and legs smeared grey with moondust
Photo: NASA Eugene Cernan · Public domain · Original

The story behind it

To the Apollo astronauts, moondust smelled like spent gunpowder.

The clingy dust came into the lunar module on boots and gloves. "It smells like spent gunpowder," said Gene Cernan of Apollo 17. Jack Schmitt got swollen nasal passages – according to NASA, the first recorded case of extraterrestrial hay fever.

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