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How to you celebrate the installation of a wastewater recycling system? How about with a bag of recycled urine water? This week 3 astronauts aboard the International Space Station drank their own urine [video], officially testing the facility’s Urine Processing Assembly.

NASA has been working on a urine recycling system for years. The system is a vital part of NASA's plan to put astronaut outposts on the moon and Mars. The water recycler will also help budget strapped space mission budgets by reducing the amount of water shipped into space by Russian resupply ships.

While demonstrating the new system for the press, U.S. astronaut Michael Barratt joked "We have these highly attractive labels on our water bags that essentially say 'brought to you by ECLSS,' and 'drink when real water is over 200 miles away.'"

So how does this new $250 million dollar wastewater recycling system work? The system takes the crew's urine from the toilets and pumps it into a big tank where the water is boiled and water vapor collected.

Yummy!


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