Among many other things, the International Space Station has been provided, via the Endeavour spacecraft, and courtesy of NASA, with a $250 million urine and sweat recycling apparatus supposed to ensure potable and bath water for the station's crew of six. Yet, during the recent few days since its installation, some glitches have prevented it from functioning normally, and the temporary crew of the ISS has been working around the clock to make it operational again.

The machine is extremely important for supporting a larger crew, since it would allow for much lesser transports of liquids to the station, especially given the impending shuttle retirement program due in less than two years. The part of the wastewater recycler supposed to purify astronauts' urine functioned in bursts of two to three and a half hours, failing to achieve the minimal test duration of four hours. But the crew seems to have solved the problem, as it worked for four hours and two minutes yesterday (after a bumpy start).

 

NASA even extended the mission for one day in order to allow for the repairs to be done properly. Station commander Michael Fincke and “Mr. Fixit,” astronaut Don Pettit, removed some vibration dampeners and added two support brackets to tighten the purifier's centrifuge. "Not to spoil it, but I think up here we're feeling, the appropriate words are 'Yippee!'" said Fincke after the apparatus passed the test yesterday, cited by Space. "There will be dancing later," replied Mission Control.

 

The device is built in such a way that it distills wastewater from sweat and urine in about four hours’ time. Endeavour's crew will bring back samples of water thus obtained, which will be tested for about three months by specialists before receiving approval for drinking. After filling the processor's tank with a new load, Fincke assured Mission Control the crew would not run out of "fuel". "We've got a full tank of yesterday's coffee here ready to fill up at any time," he joked. "Sounds like a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it," came the prompt answer.