Laboratory Equipment by Seth Augenstein 7/23/2018
Apollo astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Gene Cernan returned to their spaceship after a long moonwalk near the Sea of Serenity on the lunar landscape, in December 1972, when they were hit by a smell.
“Smells like gunpowder in here,†Schmitt said.
“Oh, it does, doesn’t it?†Cernan replied.
Hours later, Schmitt felt congested and unwell. He referred to his affliction as “lunar dust hay fever,†attributing it to his inhaling the abundant dust that accumulated on the Apollo 17 spacesuits during their time out on the lunar surface. But his symptoms went away just the next day, and he eventually returned to the Earth unscathed.
If the next generation of moonwalkers and space travelers spend more time beyond Earth than the 12 days of the Apollo 17 mission, they could be in for some serious health repercussions, according to a new paper in the journal GeoHealth.
More:
https://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2018/07/lunar-hay-fever-just-one-hazards-space-exploration
