Deadly Moondust

Astronaut Harrison Schmidt complained of having "lunar dust hay fever" after a moonwalk during the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. His symptoms were gone in a day, and the episode drifted from the limelight. The astronauts of that mission had brought dust from the Moon into their spacecraft and it had become airborne, entering their lungs. Dust particles less than 10 microns wide can block the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the lungs, and the lungs can't clear out the dust by coughing or mucous. Further, white blood cells are destroyed when they try to take sharp-edged particles away in the bloodstream. This all leads to silicosis -- effectively, the slow suffocation of the victim. Moon dust isn't poisonous, just dangerous. Martian dust on the other hand may be toxic to humans and even corrosive to equipment. With future missions to the Moon and Mars possible, NASA is busy figuring out how to keep the dust out.

All interesting, but I also wanted to post this summary because it included the cool picture below! ;-)