What Is the Orion Spacecraft Going to Smell Like?

As the Constellation program (kind of) goes forward, Nasa is asking itself some really weird questions that may affect the life of the astronauts as they advance towards their three-year mission to Mars. One of them has been commissioned to Steven Pearce, chemist and managing director of fragrance manufacturing company Omega Ingredients: What is life in the Orion spacecraft going to smell like?

For them, what comes across is a smell of fried steak, hot metal and even welding a motorbike.

There you have it, fried steak and hot metal. Much like my apartment. Omega Ingredients–probably an Spectra subsidiary–is working on this space fragrance based on the testimonies of the astronauts who have been in space. You know, all those guys and girls who went into the Moonraker program. The resulting meat-and-metal eau de cologne could–according to them–be used by Nasa to increase the realism of their simulations. [Daily Mail]