Odor Problem Aboard the International Space Station Causes Delay in Cargo Delivery

Odor Problem Aboard the International Space Station Causes Delay in Cargo Delivery

The last time I reported on the International Space Station, I noted that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos had serious safety concerns on the International Space Station (ISS), potentially leading to preparations for an emergency evacuation.

While the stench may not rise to the level of hazard triggering an evacuation, a peculiar odor has delayed the delivery of cargo to the station’s crew.

Astronauts found an “unexpected odor” after trying to open the door to a new cargo spacecraft at the space station, according to NASA.

A Russian Progress spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on Saturday (Nov. 23) at the Russian Poisk module after its launch on Nov. 21. But astronauts couldn’t keep the spacecraft hatch open for long to retrieve fresh food, supplies and equipment due to a stench coming from the capsule.

“After opening the Progress spacecraft’s hatch, the Roscosmos cosmonauts noticed an unexpected odor and observed small droplets, prompting the crew to close the Poisk hatch to the rest of the Russian segment,” NASA officials wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday (Nov. 24). The crew is not in danger and efforts to open the spacecraft are ongoing, the agency stressed.

While neither NASA or Roscosmos seems to know what caused the smell. Interestingly, there are reports of repeated leaks have plagued Russia’s spacecraft. Additionally, tensions are rising related to ISS issues.

Along with the small leak in Roscosmos’ Zvezda life support capsule earlier this year, the most recent and more severe of these issues occurred at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, when both a crewed Soyuz capsule and a Progress cargo freighter suffered coolant leaks.

Roscosmos blamed those leaks on the impact of space debris, and there has reportedly been tension behind the scenes as NASA and its Russian counterpart try to get to the bottom of the issue

With this latest noxious odor issue, it seems likely that tension between the rival space agencies may again rise — though to be fair, NASA has plenty of its own ISS problems to handle first.

European astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti offered her assessment of the odor on social media.

Cristoforetti didn’t elaborate on what the ISS smells like, although she did note the capable filters of the space station eliminate most odors. (Cristoforetti finished her first spacewalk July 21, days before the video was posted.)

Other astronauts have commented on space smells like gunpowder or ozone, particularly because atomic oxygen is believed to cling to spacesuits in a vacuum.

Cristoforetti also gave aspiring ISS visitors a rundown of the smelly places to avoid on the space station. In June, the orbiting lab’s Expedition 67 crew packed trash high within a Northrop Grumman Cygnus freighter about to depart the ISS for a fiery re-entry. “Of course, that can be smelly,” she said of the garbage-filled spacecraft.

As a reminder, the Boeing Starliner crew Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore have been stranded on the ISSfor more than five months now, despite initially planning to stay for just eight days. Amid reports of the stench issue, it seems the pair have been busy assisting with experiments.

Williams and Wilmore have aided in more than 60 scientific studies in their first six months aboard the space station, NASA said. Williams contributed to the first metal 3D print created aboard the space station, and they both worked on a method for watering and aerating plants grown in reduced-gravity, NASA said.

Hopefully, the problems will be resolved and the Starliner crew will be back on Earth in time for Valentine’s Day.

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