Toxic Moon Dust Irritates Astronauts

Starting with the Apollo missions in 1969, astronauts tracked lunar dust into their spacecraft after moonwalks when the ultrafine particles clung to their suits. These sharp, unweathered grains, made highly reactive by constant radiation exposure, irritated their eyes and airways and caused watery eyes, throat irritation, and coughing. The symptoms usually faded within about a day, but those brief episodes showed that lunar dust acts as a toxic irritant to humans and helped push NASA to treat it as a serious health risk for future missions.

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