Cool Moon Facts by Whip

Real astronomy, with sources. Folklore & tradition.

Fact #020 Missions

Moondust smells like spent gunpowder. Apollo crews tracked it into the lander and noticed immediately.

Nobody has fully explained it. The dust is freshly fractured rock that has never met oxygen or water, so the moment it hits humid cabin air it starts reacting. Whatever the chemistry, the smell faded once the samples reached Earth, the sealed containers that came home don't smell of anything much.

Source: Apollo crew debriefs, NASA (opens in a new tab) · checked Aug 2026

Settings

Your location

Only used to work out rise and set times. It stays in this browser.

Moon orientation

Southern-hemisphere skies show the moon flipped. This follows your location automatically.

Saved facts

Everything saved here

This site keeps your location, your saved facts and your settings in this browser and nowhere else. Nothing is uploaded, and nothing here can be recovered once it is gone.

Cool Moon Facts · built by Whiptronics LLC

Gear that makes it better

Where these numbers come from