Do astronauts drink each their own pee or is there a common pee container where all pee get collected and processed? It's clear to me that the obtained water must be sterile, but even then, I imagine that people will feel psychologically better in the former case.
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There is only one water recycling circuit (+ systems for redundancy) on the ISS. I remember hearing a Podcast about the water and air systems on the NASA Podcast (Houston we have a Podcast) some time ago if you want to get a detailed description. – Jan 04 '21 at 13:55
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2...astronauts do not drink urine. – Christopher James Huff Jan 04 '21 at 14:04
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I thought the Russian side had a system that made water for other things from it. Kept getting clogged... – geoffc Jan 04 '21 at 14:44
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1slightly related: Did astronauts on the moon poop in front of each other? – uhoh Jan 05 '21 at 09:17
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1I strongly recommend "Packing for Mars," by Mary Roach. It's a fascinating read into all things astronautical, including human waste collection and recycling, effects of not washing for months, and all sorts of wacky icky things. – Carl Witthoft Jan 05 '21 at 13:05
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@ChristopherJamesHuff "...that we know of" :-) – Carl Witthoft Jan 05 '21 at 13:06
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To put it bluntly: anyone who demonstrated dislike of recycled /purified pee would have washed out of astronaut training very early in the process. By the way, we all drink recycled pee. Where do you think our fresh water comes from? – Carl Witthoft Jan 05 '21 at 13:07
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At least on the US side of the ISS, there is one processor for all, the Urine Processor Assembly.
Source: https://space.stackexchange.com/a/26629/6944 (see link for acronymology)
Organic Marble
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