The Right Stuff

NASA employees at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., are donating to a good cause. To test a wastewater reclamation system being designed for the space station, a urinal in the men’s room drains into a collection jug. (There is no collection system in the women’s restroom — all but a few have refused to participate in the study.) The urine is then processed, and all ...uh... impurities are removed. All available water must be recycled on the station because there is no outside source for water in Earth orbit. And yes, the resulting water is used for drinking. “It’s water. Water is water,” says Charles Cooper, chief of Marshall’s development test branch. “If you took a glass of tap water and decided where all that water came from, you might be more inclined to drink this water than that water,” he said. One engineer who taste-tested the reclaimed water said it tastes “pretty good.” (AP) ...Now now: no fair putting bourbon in it first.