Weirdest Job Ever: NASA Employees Man To Sniff Objects[Watch Video]

NASA is usually associated with fascinating jobs like that of astronauts, rocket ship engineers and scientists. A job, classified as weird, which joins this list of fascinating jobs is that of a staff sniffer.

George Aldrich, the staff sniffer at NASA, has the weirdest job in the world which involves sniffing everything that has to be sent up to space. In space, the tiniest of smells could stick around for years, so his job is considered important. Science Channel explained that if George Aldrich fails to identify just one problematic pong, a whole mission could be in jeopardy.

Aldrich was the chief sniffer at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center for 38 years, and Aldrich is proud for having made such good use of his nose. He confessed that his family and friends find him a little crazy.

Aldrich's job involves protecting the astronauts, at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, from unpleasant odours. Objects ranging from books to technical equipment, every little thing, is tested by Aldrich before it goes into the capsule with the astronauts.

Aldrich said, "The astronauts are actually allowed to have a small bag of personal belongings that usually includes things like a bible, family photos. I try to keep my sense of smell in tune so I play games with odours."

The importance of smelling objects, explained by the manager of the nasal lab at NASA, stated that on earth, foul odour can be aired out due to dilution of air, but in the space station, since there is no additional air, it cannot be possible to air out foul odours which can make the astronauts less productive and sick.

Starting his career in the year 1974, Aldrich conducted for NASA 851 smell missions.