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Space Forum / Shuttle / September 2006Cabin freshness during flight ?
10/11 day flight with 6/7 people in a small cabin. Towards the end of the flight, does the cabin start to become less "fresh" ? Or do the crew perform some cleaning of cabin using some sort of cleaner to clean/disinfect surfaces (especially in the toilet area) ? (or are all cleaners banned while in flight due to the gases they emit ?) When NASA employees enter the orbiter after it has landed, does it smell "lived in" or does it still smell "clean" ? > 10/11 day flight with 6/7 people in a small cabin. > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > When NASA employees enter the orbiter after it has landed, does it smell > "lived in" or does it still smell "clean" ? In 1992, Dirk Frimout who has the same nationality as I, flew as a payload specialist on STS-45. He actually answered your question in his book. He had respect for the post landing personel who had to enter the cabin ... because of the smell. So it certainly smell "lived in". Regards, Nicolas > In 1992, Dirk Frimout who has the same nationality as I, flew as a payload > specialist on STS-45. > He actually answered your question in his book. He had respect for the > post landing personel who had to enter the cabin ... because of the smell. > So it certainly smell "lived in". When you have one small room that's completely sealed off from the outside that contains your kitchen, bedroom, and your toilet, this isn't surprising. It's not like you can crack a window when something starts to smell bad. ;-) Jeff  Signature"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" - B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919) > > In 1992, Dirk Frimout who has the same nationality as I, flew as a payload > > specialist on STS-45. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Jeff How did Lovell and Borman manage in Gemini 7. Wasn't the flight for 2 weeks? SignatureGareth Slee > > > In 1992, Dirk Frimout who has the same nationality as I, flew as a payload > > > specialist on STS-45. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > How did Lovell and Borman manage in Gemini 7. Wasn't the flight for 2 > weeks? Several of the Gemini and Apollo astronauts remarked upon the "aroma" of their spacecraft after prolonged missions. At least the shuttle has provisions to take an occasional bath. I think Lovell said something to the effect that you learn to become a mouth breather. Bill Sullivan >Several of the Gemini and Apollo astronauts remarked upon the "aroma" >of their spacecraft after prolonged missions. At least the shuttle has >provisions to take an occasional bath. I think Lovell said something >to the effect that you learn to become a mouth breather. ...IIRC, there was some talk at one point during the Apollo Applications discussions about some of the "extreme long-term" I-mission flights - the ones lasting more than 3 weeks, such as the Lunar HYCON mapper mission - about allowing a controlled explosive decompression to blow out the stale, sweaty air halfway through the mission. The idea was to clear things up a bit and not totally overload any of the filtration systems. How much of this was Astronaut banter is debatable, natch :-) OM Signature]=====================================[ ] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [ ] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [ ] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [ ]=====================================[ > mission. The idea was to clear things up a bit and not totally > overload any of the filtration systems. How much of this was Astronaut > banter is debatable, natch :-) The ISS is supposed to have a fancy filtration system for impurities and gases. Have there been any comments on its effectiveness ? How complex/heavy are those filters ? Could the shuttle be outfitted with those to maintain cabin freshness ? Will CEV have any such air purification for odours ? > Several of the Gemini and Apollo astronauts remarked upon the "aroma" > of their spacecraft after prolonged missions. At least the shuttle > has provisions to take an occasional bath. Well, sponge baths anyway... SignatureJRF Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail, check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and think one step ahead of IBM. >>>In 1992, Dirk Frimout who has the same nationality as I, flew as a payload >>>specialist on STS-45. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > How did Lovell and Borman manage in Gemini 7. Wasn't the flight for 2 > weeks? There's a reason these guys were considered to have the "Right Stuff". It was apparently an immunity to bad smells. >> > In 1992, Dirk Frimout who has the same nationality as I, flew as a >> > payload specialist on STS-45. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > How did Lovell and Borman manage in Gemini 7. Wasn't the flight for 2 > weeks? Crewmembers can't smell it as much during the mission. Micro-g allows fluids that would normally pool in the lower body under gravity to re- distribute themselves more evenly throughout the body. This causes nasal congestion which reduces the sense of smell. It also reduces the sense of taste, which is the reason why most astronauts prefer spicy food when in space. It's the folks who have to deal with the spacecraft after landing/splashdown who really have to deal with the smell. SignatureJRF Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail, check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and think one step ahead of IBM. >Crewmembers can't smell it as much during the mission. Micro-g allows >fluids that would normally pool in the lower body under gravity to re- >distribute themselves more evenly throughout the body. This causes nasal >congestion which reduces the sense of smell. It also reduces the sense of >taste, which is the reason why most astronauts prefer spicy food when in >space. Even without zero-G the body seems to learn to edit persistent smells from conscious notice. When my crew would take the boat back from the other, I decidedly noticed the smell [1] for the first day or so - and not at all thereafter. If I had occasion to visit another boat during refit, I would notice its smell as well. Ditto for the tender. (The submarine smell is so persistent that despite my underway uniforms being washed regularly on when onboard, and at home when I returned, that the smell on the ones I retained is *still* noticeable after nearly twenty years.) I suspect that Michael Collins could note the smell on A11 because it was still evolving, and he hadn't had time to get used to it. (Or it was simply that intense in that small a space.) [1] Our smell wasn't so much toilets and unwashed bodies (though you can't have 150 guys in such a confined area and not have some BO), as the amine in the CO2 scrubber, diesel fuel, machinery, etc.. etc.. D. SignatureTouch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh. -Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings. Oct 5th, 2004 JDL >> In 1992, Dirk Frimout who has the same nationality as I, flew as a payload >> specialist on STS-45. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > It's not like you can crack a window when something starts to smell bad. > ;-) I blame the Russians. The U.S. TCCS part of the ARS ought to do fine for odor control, absent the odd surge in contaminant load due to fluid leaks and sudden influxes of new crew members during Soyuz and STS missions. > Jeff SignatureHerb Schaltegger "You can run on for a long time . . . sooner or later, God'll cut you down." - Johnny Cash <http://www.angryherb.net> |
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