Astronauts aboard the space station celebrated a space first on Wednesday by drinking water that had been recycled from their urine, sweat and water that condenses from exhaled air. They said "cheers," clicked drinking bags and toasted NASA workers on the ground who were sipping their own version of recycled drinking water.
"The taste is great," American astronaut Michael Barratt said. Then as Russian Gennady Padalka tried to catch little bubbles of the clear water floating in front of him, Barratt called the taste "worth chasing."
He said the water came with labels that said: "drink this when real water is over 200 miles away."
The urine recycling system is needed for astronaut outposts on the moon and Mars. It also will save NASA money because it won't have to ship up as much water to the station by space shuttle or cargo rockets.
It's also crucial as the space station is about to expand from three people living on board to six.
The recycling system had been brought up to the space station last November by space shuttle Endeavour, but it couldn't be used until samples were tested back on Earth.
The three-man crew stood holding their drinks and congratulated engineers in two NASA centers that worked on the system.
"This is something that had been the stuff of science fiction," Barratt said before taking a sip.
NASA deputy space shuttle manager LeRoy Cain called it "a huge milestone."
The new system takes the combined urine of the crew from the toilet, moves it to a big tank, where the water is boiled off, and the vapor collected. The rest of contaminants is thrown away, said Marybeth Edeen, the space station's national lab manager who was in charge of the system.
The water vapor is mixed with water from air condensation, then it goes through filters. When six crew members are aboard it can make about six gallons from urine in about six hours.
The technology NASA developed for this system has already been used for quick water purification after the 2004 Asian tsunami, Edeen said.
"We are happy to have this water work through the system — we're happy to have it work through our systems," Barratt said.
國際空間站的太空人於本周三慶祝他們喝上了利用尿液、汗液以及蒸汽制出的水，這是太空史上的一大創舉。他們用飲水袋碰杯慶祝，高喊「乾杯」，與也在飲用循環水的美國宇航局地面工作人員舉杯共慶。
美國太空人麥可•巴拉特說：「味道好極了，值得品嘗」。當時俄羅斯太空人傑納迪•帕達爾卡正試圖抓住在他面前漂浮的循環水小氣泡。
他開玩笑道，水的商標應該這樣寫：「當真正的水遠在200多英裡之外時，就請享用它吧。」
對身處月球和火星「前哨」的太空人來說，研製尿液循環水系統很有必要。這還將為美國宇航局節省經費，因為他們不再需要專門發射太空梭或者運載火箭給空間站運送那麼多水了。
這對常駐空間站的太空人將來從三人擴充至六人也至關重要。
這種循環水系統是去年11月由奮進號太空梭運至空間站的，但直到水樣返回地面並經過檢測，循環水才可以飲用。
三位太空人手持水杯，向美國宇航局參與研製循環水系統的兩個工程師表示祝賀。
巴拉特在喝循環水之前說：「就像以前科幻小說裡描寫的一樣。」
美國宇航局太空梭事務副主管勒羅伊•凱恩稱之為「一個重要的裡程碑」。
負責研製該系統的空間站國家試驗室主管瑪麗貝斯•艾丁稱，新系統收集衛生間的尿液，把它們裝進一個大水桶裡加熱，蒸汽被收集起來，而廢物則被丟掉。
尿液中的蒸汽和空氣中凝結出的水蒸汽一起被過濾。當空間站裡有六名太空人時，在六小時內可制出約六加侖水。
艾丁稱，在2004年亞洲海嘯發生後，美國宇航局研製的該技術已被應用於快速水淨化。
巴拉特說：「我們很高興可以喝上系統制出的循環水，系統成功運行真是太令人興奮了。」
Vocabulary:
outpost：前驅，前哨基地