Singapore's must-share
stories, links & videos, everyday.

But ... how does it stink, exactly? It turns out that we, and more specifically our atmosphere, are the ones who give space its special spice...

NASA researchers want to reproduce space's stench for training purposes, says The Atlantic's Garber. The idea is to help "acclimate astronauts to the odors of the extra-atmospheric event."

It has been described as like 'seared steak', 'hot metal' and welding fumes'. Astronaut's have largely agreed on the scent... "definitely has a smell that's different than anything else."

The best description I can come up with is metallic; a rather pleasant sweet metallic sensation. It reminded me of my college summers where I labored for many hours with an arc welding torch...

They can't smell it while they're actually bobbing in it... But upon stepping back into the space station and removing their helmets, they get a strong, distinctive whiff of the final frontier.

The final frontier smells a lot like a Nascar race—a bouquet of hot metal, diesel fumes and barbecue. The source? Dying stars, mostly.

Simply put, space stinks. We aren’t quite sure like what, but we do know that the smell isn’t so pretty. Indeed, it’s so peculiar to astronauts that NASA wants to try and mimic it...