Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, who realise that the dust on Moon was triggering his allergies. Harrison H. Schmitt is now 87-years-old and is among the most recent living people to have walk on Earth’s only natural satellite.
In addition, Harrison H. Schmitt’s the only scientist without a military aviation background to have step on the Moon.
It wasn’t a complete joyride on the Moon for Harrison H. Schmitt though.
After he breath in some Moon dust and realise he was allergic.
Harrison H. Schmitt was on the Moon in December 1972 in the final crew Apollo mission.
One part of his job there was to collect rock samples near the Taurus-Littrow valley that’s situated close to the Sea of Serenity.
Harrison H. Schmitt didn’t take off his suit on the Moon to get a whiff of the Moon air.
Instead, he found out that he was allergic to Moon dust after returning to the landing module on the surface on the Moon after particles got spread around the cabin from his suit.
In 2019, during the Starmus Space Festival, Harrison H. Schmitt said :
“First time I smelled the dust I had an allergic reaction, the inside of my nose became swollen, you could hear it in my voice,”
“But gradually that went away for me, and by the fourth time I inhaled lunar dust I didn’t notice that,”.
It appears that being allergic to foreign dust might trigger allergies in many people, regardless of how sensitive they are to allergies on Earth.
Harrison H. Schmitt revealed that a flight surgeon was also affect by the allergies.
Their reaction was so strong that they had to halt their work.
This implies that astronauts of the future who land on the Moon need to be wary of potential allergies.
Harrison H. Schmitt Said :
“For some individuals we need to find out whether they are going to have a reaction, if they are going to be exposed chronically to Moon dust,”.
He also said how this problem may be solve by some engineering tweaks to the spacesuit.
Harrison H. Schmitt said :
“Now my suggestion is don’t ever let them be exposed to lunar dust and there are many engineering solutions,”.
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), all astronauts who have land on the Moon have suffer “lunar hay fever” in one form or another.
Symptoms can vary from mild sneezing to some nasal congestion.
Most people got use to the dust quickly, some people experience discomfort for many days.
On Earth, such particles are eroded by the wind and water.
But on the Moon, such conditions do not exist, making dust particles sharp and spiky.
Moon dust also has the potential to cause lung problems among astronauts upon inhalation.
