Recreating the smell of space

Decades ago, NASA created a fragrance to train astronauts on how outer space actually smells. Now, a Kickstarter project has been launched to release this fragrance called Eau de Space to the world.

Kickstarter is a US public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life".

According to Eau de Space product manager Matt Richmond, the fragrance has been developed by Steve Pearce -- a scent chemist and the founder of Omega Ingredients. The company website says it is focused on the "creation of the highest quality, provenance driven, natural flavours and ingredients for the food and beverage industry".

Richmond says that Pearce was originally contracted by NASA to recreate the smell in 2008, and it took him approximately four years to develop it.

It was created to help astronauts train before launching in orbit, and it was part of NASA's goal of eliminating any potential surprises astronauts might encounter or experience in space, according to the Kickstarter.

WHAT SPACE SMELLS LIKE

"It's kind of like a smell from a gun, right after you fire the shot," Peggy Whitson, an astronaut and former resident of the International Space Station, told CNN in a 2002 interview.

"I think it kind of has almost a bitter kind of smell in addition to being smoky and burned."

Richmond said that he has struggled to describe how the fragrance smells, adding: "Astronauts describe the smell as a mix of gunpowder, seared steak, raspberries and rum".

He also revealed that they are looking into releasing a fragrance called Smell of the Moon based on the excitement around Eau de Space, reported CNN.

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