Gag Alert! Here's How NASA Gets Astronauts To Drink Their Own Pee

In space, no one can hear you drink your own pee.

To say that there are a lot of factors for scientists to consider when sending astronauts into space would be an understatement, but one really important one is keeping them hydrated and nourished. 

For extended stays, astronauts just can't load up a space shuttle with hundreds of gallons of water because that would be expensive (approximately $48,000 per liter) and nearly impossible to pack. So what's the alternative? According to Huffington Post, NASA developed a way to get astronauts to drink their own urine.

Yeah, that sounds pretty disgusting, but before you judge them too harshly you should learn more about how it's done. The astronauts are not just peeing into a cup, holding their nose, and chugging. There's some science involved.

According to NASA engineer Jennifer Pruett in an installment (below) of the Smithsonian Channel documentary series "America's Secret Space Heroes," NASA created a distillery that turns the pee into “good clean urine distillate." As the pee sprays into a centrifuge, the heavier parts are separated from the lighter "steam," which evaporates through to another part of the system. That distillate is then taken to a water processor and made ready for consumption.  

I have the utmost respect and admiration for astronauts and NASA engineers because they're smarter than I'll ever be, but it would take some serious convincing to get me to drink something that used to be urine. In space you don't really have a choice, which is yet another reason why I'm keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground.