# NASA Astronauts to drink urine **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 15, 2008, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844 "2008-11-15T11:33:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/1 "2008-11-15T11:33:12Z")
NASA Austronauts will drink recycled [urine](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/3461488/NASA-astronauts-to-drink-their-own-urine.html) from a common pool. \*quote " Nobody had any strong objections. Other than a faint taste of iodine, it is just as refreshing as any other kind of water." “I’ve got some in my fridge,” he added. “It tastes fine to me.”\* ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/2 "2008-11-15T11:48:47Z")
Fine with me…what’s the question? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/3 "2008-11-15T14:13:15Z")
Technically, at this point I believe pretty much all water on the planet is recycled urine. Also, every breath you inhale contains about a million molecules of William Howard Taft’s flatulence. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/4 "2008-11-15T15:01:22Z")
The sensationalist title is misfortunate, since they are drinking reclaimed water, not “urine”. It’s always been a given that any long-term human habitation in space is going to require recycling, and water is the most obvious place to start. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/5 "2008-11-15T15:13:09Z")
As an ex-sailor, I can say with confidence that I used to drink whale and dolphin piss. Properly purified, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/6 "2008-11-15T15:20:34Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > As an ex-sailor, I can say with confidence that I used to drink whale and dolphin piss. Properly purified, of course. Sperm, Seaman? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/7 "2008-11-15T17:21:34Z")
My father used to say that every drop of water you drink contains urine from Jesus. I don’t know why he didn’t say Moses, since he was Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/8 "2008-11-15T17:31:56Z")
They’ve been recycling urine for a long time on spacecraft, haven’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/9 "2008-11-15T17:39:15Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > They’ve been recycling urine for a long time on spacecraft, haven’t they? I guess I’d just assumed that. I’m a bit surprised that they haven’t been “drinking urine” for years now. ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/10 "2008-11-15T22:43:21Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > They’ve been recycling urine for a long time on spacecraft, haven’t they? I don’t know if they still just dump it, but I remembered [this from the Apollo days](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,919253,00.html), and went looking for it: > [@](#): > > Apollo 9 Astronaut Russell Schweickart…says, among other things, that perhaps the most beautiful sight in space is a urine dump. A urine dump? It seems that when orbiting astronauts release into space their voided urine, the liquid instantly freezes into millions of tiny ice crystals, which form a hemisphere and spray out in all directions from the exit nozzle. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/11 "2008-11-16T01:03:14Z")
Both Apollo and the Shuttle used hydrogen fuel cells for electricity, with drinkable water as the byproduct. In fact up until now the Shuttle was generating a surplus of water which was delivered to the ISS. Skylab, IIRC, simply had a reserve of water big enough for the planned lifetime of the station. The Russians I don’t know about, but their Mir program featured regular automated cargo deliveries so maybe they just shipped more drinking water as needed. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-astronauts-to-drink-urine/472844/12 "2008-11-16T03:11:27Z")
Meh. Donovan sang about this back in 1973 on his Cosmic Wheels album: _You may well ask now what becomes Of liquid they consume A pipe is led from penis head To a unit in the room The water is recirculated Filtered for re-use In case some anti-gravity- Pee gets on the loose._