Astronauts drink recycled urine because of the limited availability of water on board the spaceship.
The Astronauts recycle urine into drinkable water so they will have enough water to drink and save on water that they would otherwise have to haul to space with them.
Water is a precious and limited resource in space, so International Space Station crew members recycle it whenever possible, including recycling their own urine.
It only takes about eight days for the systems on the space station to process water.
Urine is boiled in the distillation assembly and delivered to the water processor, where it undergoes a cycle of filtration and chemical purification until it is usable by the crew – reducing costs associated with launching heavy water shipments to the station from Earth.
Water is heavy and hard to transport into orbit, which is why the International Space Station is a champion when it comes to recycling.
Even astronaut urine is captured and processed to make it drinkable.
Nearly all of the water astronauts drink and shower with comes from their urine and sweat.
Storage is hard to come by aboard the International Space Station.
An astronaut is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft.
Astronauts are paid according to the federal government's General Schedule pay scale, and they can fall on the GS-11 through GS-14 pay grades.
The pay grade is based on an astronaut's academic achievements and experience.
The starting salary for GS-11 employees is $53,805.00