Revealed: What Space Smells Like

Outer space may be soundless, but it's apparently not odorless. Life's Little Mysteries recently stumbled upon a 2009 interview with a NASA astronaut that's too good to not resurrect. In it, Kevin Ford spoke of picking up the weird odor while undertaking spacewalks. It's not something he could smell while embarking on them (the plastic odor of the spacesuit delights the nose then), but once back in the International Space Station, the smell is there: a metallic odor that Life's Little Mysteries describes as having the "aroma of seared steak, hot metal, and welding fumes." (More outer space stories.)