In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream From The Smell Of A Durian

Durian is a fruit that smells so pungent once it starts to go bad, it recently cleared an entire campus library. Takeout editor Kevin Pang assures us that the durian is in fact delicious, so well worth taking the risk of eventual bad smells by eating it.

Maybe that's why a space research outfit in Thailand has decided to send the durian out in space to see if it would make viable food for astronauts. Time reports, "Baked durians have already been packaged and are ready for lift off," according to Ammarin Pimnoo of the Geo-Informatics And Space Technology Development Agency. Since Thailand's space program is somewhat lacking, a U.S. rocket will help launch the fruit into space. It will only stay there five minutes until it returns to Earth and is examined for "textural changes."

If the durian makes it, researchers will then move on to other Thai food, like "pad Thai or mango sticky rice," according to an agency spokesperson. We have to believe that either of those selections would be much more welcome to the astronauts. Because once they finish eating the durian, where are they supposed to dispose of it in space, then trapping them in a capsule with those dreaded noxious fumes?