It's amazing, I would have thought anything but this. Weighing, sanitizing and packaging options that are very obvious and too simple to make anyone famous. If we go from the opposite, then there must be something unusual, maybe he sniffs the astronauts' things?
George Aldrich is a full-time sniffer, and he's been sniffing for NASA for 40 years. He performs important and responsible work and copes with it perfectly, thanks to his unique ability distinguish an incredible number of smells.
This procedure is necessary to prevent the appearance of unpleasant and even disgusting odors on a station or ship in space. The fact is that the smell is caused by molecules, which, once in a closed space, will not simply go away. In order to get rid of the smell, it is necessary to provide an influx fresh air, that is, to disperse these same molecules. It is necessary to ventilate the room, on Earth we simply open the window, but in space it is impossible to do this! Therefore, the smell will never leave space structures.
There was even a case of termination of an expedition due to an unpleasant smell. That's how indispensable Aldrich's work is for the conquest of space. And he is not going to stop his mission.
More interesting answers.
George Aldrich - astronaut bodyguard
And now another example of an unusual profession. What is NASA, you know - National Aeronautics and Space Administration. They launch satellites and space shuttles - Shuttles. Among the mass of “eggheads” (that is, highly learned) employees are five “sniffers”. They sniff everything that should fly into space with the astronaut crews.
One of the reasons for the emergence of this profession was the not very successful flight of the Soviet crew Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov on spaceship Soyuz-21 in 1976. Some time after the normal launch into orbit, the spacecraft commander reported that a foreign smell had appeared in the cabin. At first, they didn’t pay attention to the annoying obstacle, and our cosmonauts spent more than a month in an atmosphere of increasing stench, either due to fuel vapors leaking somewhere, or because of the odors of the plastic lining... An unexpected equipment failure forced the program to be curtailed, and the crew returned to the ground. But even if there had been no emergency, the flight would still have had to be stopped due to the smell. In space you can’t open a window for ventilation...
One of NASA’s “sniffers” named George Aldrich spoke about his amazing profession. He received it quite unexpectedly. 18-year-old George served in the fire department, not even suspecting that he had a unique “nose.” Following an advertisement for volunteers in NASA’s “aroma” department, he applied and took part in control testing. To his surprise, he passed the medical examination and all the tests.
Aldrich correctly identified the bottles containing the odoriferous substance (he was offered ten bottles, of which three were containing clean water). I distinguished and identified seven main aromas from the proposed bouquet - musky, floral, ethereal, camphorous, minty, pungent and putrefactive.
George was put to work. Since then, over three decades, he has participated in more than seven hundred launch preparations. And every four months he and his colleagues undergo strict smell tests. Good specialist smells must have not only a unique sense of smell, but also good associative and operational memory, as well as... imagination.
Together with other “sniffers”, he “sniffs” absolutely everything at the stand, from circuit boards to astronauts’ clothing and pen paste. The fact is that some objects that have no odor in the Earth’s atmosphere suddenly become sources of gases in space and smell...
“Sniffers” rate odors on a scale from 0 - unnoticeable, then barely or easily detectable - this is 2, then comes unwanted - 3 and, finally, 4 - aggressive. If the score is higher than two and a half points, the odorous object is removed from the spacecraft without further discussion. All the personal belongings of the astronauts are also checked (for example, one of the first female astronauts, Sally Ride, was confiscated by the sniffers... her mascara was too scented). And in preparation for other flights, aftershave lotion, a small album with home photographs, and even someone’s laptop (a portable baby IBM computer) were rejected...
“I feel like I’m the astronaut’s bodyguard,” says Aldrich, “even though I just have a really good nose.”
on his business card a shuttle and a skunk are depicted side by side and there is an inscription in small letters: “If something smells in the space program, I have to smell it.”
At the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, electronics are taught to recognize illness by exhalation [photo]
What smells?
Colleagues read a funny piece of news: “Can you imagine, there’s a guy at NASA who’s been sniffing astronauts for forty years! Do we have something like that? Will you write it?”
To my shame, I knew nothing about the professional “sniffer” at NASA. Although I have written about smells in space more than once. In the early 2000s, I participated in the SFINCSS experiment. Before the start of the flights of real astronauts to the International Space Station, we, several test crews, were put into tanks resembling orbital modules and sent on a “flight”. Everything was like in orbit: the atmosphere, the noise of the fans. Only without weightlessness.
James Aldrich has been sniffing astronauts' clothes for 40 years. Photo: NASA.
It turned out that you quickly get used to the specific atmosphere and noise of the fans. But our body does not like a measured life. And any unexpected incident becomes an event. Even lunch at a common table, filled with bright smells. I still remember the sour smell of black bread, the pungent aroma of a cut onion, the cloying amber of a chocolate bar.
When a “truck” brings a package of fresh food to the astronauts, the first thing they do is sniff it. The most beloved and reverent smell is that of apples and oranges. This is the smell of home and holiday.
Astronauts even claim to have smelled what space itself smells like. After leaving the ISS, when you take off your spacesuit, you can catch it for a few seconds. No earthly analogues were found for it. “The closest thing is the smell of ozone. Clean, as if a thunderstorm had passed,” says cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov.
But a strong aroma in orbit can be so overwhelming to the nose that the crew will lose their ability to work for several hours. Therefore, indeed, forty years ago, NASA hired George Aldrich, as he calls himself, a “sniff naut.” On his business card there are pictures of a shuttle and a skunk. Since 1974, he has conducted almost 900 examinations.
Photo: NASA.
George sniffs all the astronauts' belongings and equipment that is sent on board. He talks about an astronaut who wanted to take a ship model with him so that he could glue it together in his spare time - this is a person’s hobby. George smelled many different types of glue before choosing the safe one. But there is more trouble with the load of women. Sally Ride, the first American woman to go into space, packed a set of cosmetics with her. The sniffer rejected the mascara.
George Aldrich gives interviews and gives lectures. What about ours? It seems like everyone key specialists I know, but I have to... I called the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems.
Photo: NASA.
And ours is electronic!
IBMP is an institute that is responsible for everything related to the health of astronauts.
- Come, let's introduce you! - They cheerfully responded to my call.
And sitting opposite me is the head of the laboratory, Doctor of Medical Sciences Lana Nizamovna Mukhamedieva. Like a true intellectual, she tries her best not to show how boring she is with questions about “sniffing” astronauts. And soon I understand why. Russia has been engaged in long-term flights for more than forty years. What was considered a discovery in the early 70s of the last century is today clearly described in instructions, commonplace, and therefore no longer interesting.
1. Carbon filter. 2. Air intake (can be of different diameters). 3. Box with sensors. Air is forced through the device. In it time is running his analysis. Photo: from the IBMP archive.
Simply put: over the years, everything has been sent into space. Even the stones charged in the pyramid. And now a specialist with his eyes closed knows what thing and in what packaging to let into orbit. Except when they are developing new module, their drawings and design plans are sent to IBMP, from which they are going to make the interior decoration. If you want to use new ones polymer materials- then the “sniffers” join in.
There are no particularly gifted people in the sense of smell at IBMP. Just like there is no point in keeping a separate “sniffer”. Space is not a perfume laboratory. New material Several employees sniff. The results are assessed using a special scale. If the smell is sharp and unpleasant, it’s clear: the material is rejected.
In fact, smells are a small part of what scientists must monitor so that astronauts can perform at their best in orbit. There are things more dangerous than bad smell(If anything, it can at least be driven away with the help of fans). What to do, for example, with toxic liquids for cooling or heating the station? They must be such that even in the event of an accident, if they enter the station’s atmosphere, the cosmonauts will not suffer from poisoning. I remember the difficult year for our cosmonautics in 1997, when at the Mir station the coolant ethylene glycol completely poured out of the pipes. But even in this situation, the crew was able to continue repairs.
Photo: from the IBMP archive.
Or the air exhaled by the crew...
And then our conversation became lively. And when institute engineer Yuri Smirnov brought a metal box with several tubes and introduced: “Electronic nose!”, the conversation began to boil.
“And all sorts of nasty things try to breathe out...”
When Arkady Raikin pronounced this famous monologue of his, he could not even imagine what kind of disgust a person actually exhales!
Scientists began researching exhalation only ten years ago; they even opened a special institute in Austria. We also joined IBMP, especially since similar works and before they led: it was necessary to understand what kind of atmosphere is formed in the spacecraft. Today, 120 - 140 chemical compounds are already recognized that enter the atmosphere every time we exhale. And at school they only taught about carbon dioxide!
“The sensors have become so sensitive that we can “hear” the release of microbes in the intestines, cancer cells in the lung or bladder,” Lana Nizamovna explains to me.
Photo: from the IBMP archive.
- So you don’t have to swallow guts, you don’t have to do a bunch of tests? I breathed into the tube - and that’s it?
- Over time it will be so.
Lana Nizamovna says that the appearance of cancer cells can be “smelled” even at the pre-illness stage, when there are only a few of them in the body! Or prevent oxidative stress - this is when a cell becomes damaged due to oxidation. It is the cause of many diseases - from schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease to angina pectoris and other heart problems.
Even Aldrich's experienced nose won't help here. Requires sensitive equipment. It was created by German and Russian scientists. This is an electronic nose. As I understand it, the sensors in it can be changed, setting the device to analyze certain compounds.
Photo: from the IBMP archive.
By the way, a question in the style of “What? Where? When?”: Why do you think such devices were first adapted in Germany? Control the quality of beer!
Now an electronic nose monitors cleanliness on the ISS. Last year he sniffed the station for the first time - this was how they found out where new microorganisms had appeared and what the composition of the air was. There are places in the modules where the astronaut cannot reach. A fungus develops there. And putting the thin tube-nose of the device behind the panel is not a problem.
The next step is to draw up a map of the compounds that dangerous cells secrete, and teach the nose to detect future diseases “by smell.” It is not yet clear how many years such work will take. Our scientists, together with doctors from one of the Munich clinics, are only accumulating knowledge.
...In the meantime, let George Aldrich sniff the astronauts. What else should he do?
Photo: from the IBMP archive.
BY THE WAY
Perfumers have been using scent changes in space for ten years now. For example, the unexpected aroma of Zen perfume from the Japanese company Shiseido was obtained using a rose, which was sent into space on the shuttle in 1998.
Her aroma in zero gravity turned out to be sweeter and slightly less fresh than on earth. The astronauts, using thin plastic sticks coated with a special solvent, recorded the composition of the fragrant substances released by the flower. And then on earth, chemists established the exact composition of the aroma and reproduced it for perfume.
It would seem that by the nature of their service, cosmonauts and astronauts should be materialists. However, many of them are very superstitious and perform mysterious rituals before flying...
BLACK DAY OF THE CALENDAR
Judging by the number of rituals and superstitions, we can come to the conclusion that Russian cosmonauts are much more superstitious than their American colleagues. The Americans came up with an interesting explanation for this phenomenon: the safety of space flights in Russia and the United States is not comparable.
In the USSR, according to official data, four cosmonauts died in half a century, and the latest tragedy happened more than four decades ago. Losses among astronauts are at least four times higher - 17. Such flight safety is well worth freaking out, taking all sorts of strange measures, which our cosmonauts regularly do.
So, for example, October 24 is a black page in the calendar of Soviet-Russian cosmonautics. This is the only day of the year when it is strictly forbidden to carry out any launches. Fate chose October 24 for tragedies not once, but twice. It was on this day in 1960 and 1963 that Soviet missiles exploded. The explosions killed 92 and 7 people, respectively.
Baikonur also has its own traditions. The most famous is to place coins on the rails along which the rocket is transported to the site. Cosmonauts do not take part in this ritual, because it is believed to bring bad luck to them.
Instead of crushing coins, they visit the hairdresser. In addition to the haircut, a blessing from the priest is also required. The priest blesses not only the astronauts, but also the rocket at the launch site.
REAR RIGHT WHEEL
Both cosmonauts and astronauts act on the principle: why change something if everything went well. Therefore, many of the most ordinary and routine events that occur on the day of a successful launch become traditions and rituals. It is not surprising that Yuri Gagarin became the “author” of many traditions in Soviet-Russian cosmonautics.
The strangest tradition attributed to the first cosmonaut is... the delivery of minor necessities to the wheels of the bus on which the cosmonauts travel to the cosmodrome in Baikonur. The dubious honor was given, however, not to everyone, but only to the rear right wheel, allegedly chosen by Yuri Alekseevich on April 12, 1961.
By the way, there is no doubt about the expediency or logic of the actions of the first cosmonaut, because half a century ago spacesuits were not yet as convenient and comfortable as they are now. So the desire to satisfy an urgent need in advance, if Yuri Gagarin really did this before flying on the Vostok-1 spacecraft, can be considered a completely reasonable precaution.
There is no serious evidence of this fact, but this has not prevented astronauts from peeing on the rear right wheel for more than half a century, although nowadays they can easily do the same in space thanks to comfortable suits in which every detail is thought out.
Foreign cosmonauts launching from Baikonur on Russian rockets, and, naturally, ladies are exempt from this ritual. However, they say that female astronauts often take a bottle of urine with them in order to also observe the tradition.
EARTH IN THE PORTHOLE
The remaining traditions of Soviet-Russian cosmonautics are not so strange and often have a more or less reasonable explanation. For example, before the flight, cosmonauts must visit Red Square and pay tribute to the memory of Yuri Gagarin, Sergei Korolev, Vladimir Komarov - the first person to die in space, and the three victims of the tragic flight of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft in 1971: Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev, whose ashes rest in the Kremlin wall. This tradition is also obligatory for foreigners.
Cosmonauts and to the Alley of Heroes at Baikonur to plant a tree. Yuri Gagarin was the first to do this before the flight. As you might guess, the Gagarin tree is the oldest and largest here.
Before the flights, the astronauts come to the office of the first cosmonaut, where everything remains exactly the same as it was during his life. They examine Gagarin's personal belongings and make entries in the guest book. The most superstitious, according to rumors, ask the spirit of the owner of the office for permission to fly into space.
Today's cosmonauts and astronauts also owe Yuri Gagarin a musical tradition - listening to lyrical songs just before launch. Music lifts your spirits. True, each crew chooses their own repertoire.
The evening before the flight, the astronauts watch only one film - the famous “Western” “White Sun of the Desert.” They are given champagne for breakfast on the day of the flight. Before leaving for the cosmodrome, the astronauts sign the doors of their hotel rooms, and they leave to the sounds of the hit song “Earth in the Porthole.”
On May 28, 2014, television viewers watching the launch of the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft on the ISS saw a stuffed giraffe hovering near the control panel. It was a toy for the daughter of astronaut Reed Wiseman.
But the tradition of taking a talisman on a flight and tying it on a string to the control panel is Soviet-Russian. Tradition has quite practical significance: When the toy begins to float in the air, engineers at the Control Center see that a state of weightlessness has set in, which means the launch was successful.
SUPERSTITIVE ASTRONAUTS
On April 17, 1970, the Apollo 13 crew returned safely to Earth despite an oxygen tank explosion. The emergency shocked NASA management. As a result, National Aeronautics Administration Administrator James Beggs ordered the number 13 to be removed from all NASA programs. This explains the strange numbering of the shuttles in 1981-2011.
The first flight of the STS shuttle took place on April 12, 1981. At first the numbering was fine, but as the 13th flight approached, tensions mounted within NASA. Beggs came up with new system numbering. As a result, after STS-9, ... STS-41B went into space. The first digit in the new numbering indicated the year (the 84th in this case), the second is the number of the launch pad at the cosmodrome, and the letter is the launch sequence according to the schedule.
American astronauts have breakfast with filet mignon and eggs before their flight. Alan Shepard is considered the founder of this tradition. On May 5, 1961, three weeks after Gagarin's flight, he went into space on the Freedom 7 capsule. This morning Alan ate filet mignon with eggs for breakfast. The flight was successful. Since then, astronauts have had breakfast in exactly the same way, hoping for good luck, although not all astronauts have a good appetite on launch day.
There are several other traditions associated with food. Whenever employees at NASA's Pasadena Research Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), launch a probe or uncrewed satellite, they eat... peanuts. This tradition was born on July 28, 1964, after the successful launch of the Ranger 7 interplanetary station, which was supposed to fly around the Moon and photograph its invisible side.
As you might guess, before Ranger 7 there were six similar stations with numbers from 1 to 6. The launches of all of them were various reasons were unsuccessful. On the day the seventh station was launched, some engineer brought peanuts to the Mission Control Center and treated them to his colleagues.
Since the flight was a success, the Control Center has since always eaten peanuts during launches. When people go into space, the menu at the Center is more varied. Engineers and scientists eat beans with cornbread.
This tradition is almost two decades younger than the “peanut” one. She was born on April 12, 1981, when the first shuttle took off from Cape Canaveral. By the way, after this simple meal, all newcomers have their ties cut. This ritual came to astronautics from aviation.
Astronauts always play poker on the way to the launch pad. Moreover, the game lasts until the flight commander loses. Astronaut Winston Scott, who once confirmed to the Chicago Tribune that he and his comrades play poker before each flight,
Sergey LAVINOV, magazine "Mysteries of the 20th Century" No. 9 2017
Without this man's nose, NASA is unlikely to be able to resume shuttle flights. He's been with the agency for 30 years, and all that time he's been sniffing what's supposed to end up on the space shuttle. He was nicknamed “Nostril-damus” and even “nosonaut”, because the “super-sniffer” has more than 770 “odorous missions”.
The “chief drug addict” is not offended by jokes and, upon introducing himself, says: “My name is George Aldrich, and I have a stinking job.” While others mock him unusual profession, Aldrich believes in its value: “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it was really important.”
In space, odors change, and astronauts have no way to open a window and ventilate the room: “Exposure to unpleasant odors can make people sick,” explains NASA’s chief sniffer. — Ask the Russians. They had to abort the mission in 1976 due to the foul stench.”
The crew of Soyuz-21, Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov, actually had problems with smell. But the mission had to be curtailed not because of the stench - they endured it for more than a month, suspecting that either leaking toxic fuel fumes or interior upholstery materials were to blame.
And the early termination of the flight was caused by an unexpected equipment failure. So let’s leave this “inconsistency” on the conscience of “Nostril-damus”.
Further. It should be said that since childhood, Aldrich did not dream of his current profession and did not strive for fame as a “master of smell.” When he was 18 years old, he began working in the fire department. And then suddenly the aerospace agency announced a recruitment of volunteers for the “aroma” department.
The photo on the left was taken in 2001, on the right - in 2003. As you can see, there are few differences. And this is how Aldrich has been working for more than 30 years (photo from the sites primidi.com and spaceflight.nasa.gov).
Among the main requirements for candidates were the absence of any allergies or breathing problems. Aldrich passed and has never failed the so-called “10-bottle test,” seven of which smell like something and three of which don’t.
The test subject must identify the following odors: musky, floral, ethereal, camphorous, minty, pungent and putrefactive. Thus, every 4 months the agency calibrates and tests the noses of its sniffers, and together with Aldrich there are only five of them at NASA.
This team's job is to smell almost everything that astronauts encounter during flight, including tissues, toothpaste, circuit boards, cosmetics and even ink.
However, some objects that do not emit any odor on Earth can easily become sources of toxic gases in space. Therefore, first all items are tested for toxicity.
They are sealed in containers, and then, to speed up the process, they are placed in an oven heated to 49 degrees Celsius for three days. It is then determined whether the gases are poisonous or carcinogenic, and if they are safe, the items are subjected to a smell test.
Aldrich and his colleagues rate odors on a scale of zero to four: unnoticeable is 0, then barely or easily detectable, unwanted, and finally 4 is aggressive or offensive. Aldrich nicknamed the fourth level "get-me-out-of-here".
For example, the analysis of some kind of stopper that NASA hoped to use on board the shuttle looks like this from the outside: a chemist uses a syringe to draw air out of a chamber with a stopper, and then “shoots” this air into the mask on his face. And he sniffs.
If the score of an item is higher than 2.4 points, it will definitely not fly into space. Thus, the film, markers and mascara that the first American astronaut, Sally Ride, wanted to take on board the ship were rejected.
Of course, NASA could use dogs or "electronic noses" for such tests, but the agency is more willing to use "human" sniffers because astronauts are people too, and no electronics or animal can accurately identify odors that will "offend" members crew.
The Discovery shuttle is due to launch in May, so the best NASA nose there is more than enough work (photo ABC News).
In addition to working for the Nozdrya-damus agency, he was a judge four times at the humorous national competitions “Smell Eaters” (