NASA Has a Specialist Who Sniffs Things Before They Go to Space
Space

NASA Has a Specialist Who Sniffs Things Before They Go to Space

American George Aldrich is a proud representative of one of the most unusual professions in the world. For 40 years now, he’s been a sniffer at NASA. A man’s job is to examine every item that his superiors plan to send into space. The fact is that, being in the sealed space of the space station, every object smells much stronger than on Earth.

George Aldrich says

Astronauts working on the ISS cannot open a window and ventilate the room, as people do on Earth. Therefore, it is very important that the station does not get unpleasant smelling items.

Experts from NASA, explain: “On Earth, you can get rid of the smell due to the influx of fresh air, which gradually dissolves the smell molecules to imperceptible. In space, this is absolutely impossible – fresh air is nowhere to be found”.

According to a professional sniffer, smells can “accumulate” on the space station and subsequently have an extremely unpleasant effect on the health and emotional state of astronauts. This is why Aldrich’s profession plays such an important role in the organization of space flights.

Like any human, George is able to distinguish about 10 thousand smells. However, he managed to reach such heights in this business that scientists working in the space industry became interested in the man’s abilities. Aldrich sniffs all the personal items that astronauts take with them to the ISS. He says that one day one of the cosmonauts wanted to take a plastic model of the ship with him so that he could glue it together at his leisure. In the end, George spent days trying to find the perfect type of glue that would not cause discomfort to others.

He can’t be replaced by an electronic nose or a dog. Neither the most exact electronics nor a person’s friends will be able to answer the main question, namely: “Will this smell be too strong or unpleasant for other people?”

George Aldrich has been working as a “sniffer”, as he calls himself, since 1974. During this time, he conducted more than 850 examinations. However, it is not known whether the specialist sniffs the astronauts themselves.

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