Hooray! Yahoo! High fives, everyone! Hova!!
Stillsuits may have just become a reality, and the guys at NASA are psyched to start drinking their pee!
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Space Station’s Urine Recycling Unit Passes Test
Mike Schneider, Associated Press
Nov. 25, 2008 — After several days without luck, astronauts finally ran a successful test on equipment that turns urine into drinking water — a necessity for supporting the International Space Station’s crew, which will soon double.
“Not to spoil anything, but I think up here the appropriate words are ‘Yippee!’” space station commander Mike Fincke told Mission Control early Tuesday morning, shortly before bedtime.
“There will be dancing later,” Mission Control replied.
WILLIAM HURT celebrates that pee-drinking is finally acceptable.
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Of course this is a genuine breakthrough, immediately applicable to space travel and Al Gore’s office. But… “yippee?” They don’t have to be so eager, is all’s I’m saying.
Please stay tuned for a guest blog from William Hurt later today, violently disagreeing with my premise.
24 responses so far ↓
1 Fnord on Nov 28, 2008 at 7:24 am
No mention of Kevin Costner at all?
Really? Nothing about Waterworld?
It seems so obvious…
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Reply from Bill Corbett on November 28, 2008:
(after parallel universe post which does mention Kevin Costner:)
Fnord on Nov 28, 2008 at 7:24 am
Wow, Kevin Costner and Waterworld?
Really? That’s the only thing you could come up with?
It seems a little too obvious…
Reply from Hugh on November 28, 2008:
I’m pretty sure you broke some rules, though. It may be cliche, but I think that’s because you’re required to mention Costner/Waterworld whenever pee-drinking comes up.
Reply from Fnord on November 28, 2008:
I posit that there is no universe in which Costner drinking his own urine is not funny.
2 Nick Fechter on Nov 28, 2008 at 8:16 am
This may be a mager scientific breakthrough, but I don’t exactly like the whole idea of drinking what you just drank. I guess the next big breakthrough will be making something you can eat out of something you just ate 8(
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Reply from Shufflebugger on November 29, 2008:
In London UK it is always said that the tap water has been drunk twice before. A triumph of recylcling. Very good quality
Battery chickens have their own excrement dried and mixed with thie food. It would appear that their digestive sytem is a bit inefficient. How do we rate?
3 Queen Shadowrama on Nov 28, 2008 at 8:19 am
I just want to know who volunteered to drink it first to make sure the test was successful. Especially if it wasn’t their own pee/water that they were drinking…
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4 Dan Noutko-Kennedy on Nov 28, 2008 at 8:20 am
Bill,
This is great news. For the next soiree I host at the Mobius Strip Club I’m going to invite both Jesus and NASA so there’ll be an endless flow of water into wine into urine into water into..
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5 Dames Like Her on Nov 28, 2008 at 9:44 am
URINE COSMOPOLITAN
A splash of grenadine
A splash of Triple Sec
few drops of Rose’s Lime Juice
1 jigger of vodka of your choice
3 tablespoons of [chilled] urine
Pour everything except for grenadine into ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake for ten seconds and strain into chilled champagne flute. Add grenadine. Garnish with a tiny urinal cake, and serve on folded toilet paper.
Very popular with the young moneyed set in urban areas.
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Reply from Gamera on November 28, 2008:
Nice.
Was Martha Stewart the first chef to use a tiny urinal cake garnish?
6 Ninjew on Nov 28, 2008 at 9:45 am
I’m still waiting for someone to be able to turn water in wine…
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7 NavarezElectro on Nov 28, 2008 at 10:00 am
These modern space travelers will miss witnessing the majesty of the “urine dump,” when urine is expelled from the spacecraft and turns into a halo of golden crystals. One astronaut [can’t remember which] described this phenomenon as “beautiful.”
I don’t think he mentions what happens to- the other stuff- when it is ejected.
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8 MonkeyCheezPants on Nov 28, 2008 at 10:01 am
Wait, up until now we COULDN’T drink our on pee?
I’m confused.
Then how do YOUR families celebrate Thanksgiving?
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Reply from Nick Fechter on November 28, 2008:
Our family ripped the heads off of live turkeys and sucked out the innards, but drinking your own pee!? Man, your family sounds seriously messed up….
9 justhesh on Nov 28, 2008 at 11:06 am
What it means for astronauts is nothing compared to what it means for people in drought-stricken countries or areas with contamination problems.
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Reply from MonkeyCheezPants on November 28, 2008:
I don’t get the joke.
Oh, wait, you were serious? Here? We can’t have that.
(But yes, this is an excellent example of practical benefits of a space program.)
10 Heather on Nov 28, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I think it’s more of a sentiment of “Yippee, our astronauts don’t have to die of dehydration!”
And hey, you can’t have “yippee” without “pee”. So yes, it is completely appropriate.
Now waiting for video of super-nerdy ISS astronauts dancing in Zero-G.
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11 Tristan on Nov 28, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Astronaut: *Sits sipping water*
Technician: *Walks in room dusting hands* Wellp, it took some doing but I finally got that pee converter to work right.
Astronaut: *Spit take*
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Reply from MonkeyCheezPants on December 5, 2008:
Spit takes are hilarious.
Spit takes in microgravity are life-changing spiritual experiences.
12 Ben on Nov 29, 2008 at 9:12 am
I don’t think William Hurt’s recycled urine would be as impacting as Jürgen Prochnow’s recycled urine. I submit that the 1984 “Dune” version is superior to the 2000 tv miniseries version.
That being said…in theory…what would happen if the urine recycler was installed incorrectly in reverse mode? Would it turn water into urine? Would it turn urine into super-concentrated mutant hobo urine?
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Reply from Queen Shadowrama on November 29, 2008:
Worse, would it bring back the token evil super villains whose desire to rule the world would cause them to create a giant version of the machine and threaten to turn the world’s oceans into urine?
And the only way to prevent this would be to have the government pay said villain…
One hundred… million… dollars! *puts pinky finger to lip*
Reply from Ben on December 1, 2008:
Ah, perhaps the origin for the twin supervillains, Urinus and Uranus.
13 Brian O. on Nov 29, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Today we’re replacing Captain Kirk’s urine with Folgers Dilithium Crystals, lets see if he notices.
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Reply from Ben on December 1, 2008:
To steal from Blackadder II, the Captain wouldn’t notice because he started drinking his own urine well before the water on the ship ran out.
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