NASA Gives Space Station Crew 'Go' to Drink Recycled Water

Spencer and I were watching the news one morning and they were talking about this. Spencer was so funny! He was totally freaking out!

NASA's Mission Control gave the Expedition 19 astronaut crew aboard the International Space Station a "go" to drink water that the station's new recycling system has purified.

NASA Photo: Expedition 19 Crew on International Space Station Toast Their New Recyled BrewMission Control radioed the news to the crew Wednesday, following a report from the Water Recovery System team that station program managers approved. The decision is an important milestone in the development of the station's environmental and life support systems, which will begin supporting six-person crews at the end of May.

Expedition 19 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineers Mike Barratt and Koichi Wakata celebrated the decision with a toast in the Destiny laboratory.

"This has been the stuff of science fiction. Everybody's talked about recycling water in a closed loop system, but nobody's ever done it before. Here we are today with the first round of recycled water," said Barratt. "We're really happy for this day and for the team that put this together. This is the kind of technology that will get us to the moon and further."

"This is an important milestone in the development of the space station," said Kirk Shireman, International Space Station deputy program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "This system will reduce the amount of water we must launch to the station once the shuttle retires and also test out a key technology required for sending humans on long duration missions to the moon and Mars."

Space shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 mission delivered the Water Recovery System to the station in November 2008. Mission Specialist Don Pettit and Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke installed the equipment before Endeavour's departure. The system has been processing urine into purified water since shuttle Discovery's STS-119 crew delivered and installed a replacement Urine Processing Assembly in March. The system is tied into the station's Waste and Hygiene Compartment toilet and recovers and recycles moisture from the station's atmosphere.

The crews of STS-126, Expedition 18 and STS-119 returned samples of the recycled water to Earth. A total of 5.28 gallons (20 liters) of recycled water were tested for purity at the Water and Microbiology Laboratories at Johnson. A special Space Station Program Control Board meeting on April 27 reviewed the analysis, which showed contaminants were well below established limits, and concurred that the water is safe and healthy to drink. Mission managers elected to postpone consumption until a sticky check valve in the Urine Processing Assembly was removed May 18.

Space station crews will monitor the purity of the recycled water with on-board equipment and periodically send down samples for testing on Earth.

Melanie's talk

Today Melanie will be giving a talk in church today. Her talk is on how faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ can strengthen my home and family. I thought I would share her talk because it is about a time when my children gained a true testimony of faith and prayer. Here is her talk:

This is me and Carnell. I like to call him Grandpa, because he has always been like one to me. Sometimes on Sundays he comes to my house for dinner. He doesn’t live very far, but when he goes home, he always calls us on the phone to tell us he made it home safe. One night after leaving our house, he did not call. We waited and waited and he still did not call to let us know he made it home. I noticed my Grandpa Merrill getting worried. Grandpa Merrill got in his car and drove to Carnell’s house. Carnell was not there. Grandpa Merrill drove all the streets in Newbury Park looking for him. He was no where! My family and I were very worried. I was worried he might me hurt. My daddy asked if I would like to go help look for him. We drove for a long time, but did not see him. As a family, we all knelt down and said a prayer that Carnell would be safe and be found. We called the police and they had all the police looking for him. We could even heard helicopters. It was now very, very late and way past my bedtime. It was hard to fall asleep. My mommy told me to say another prayer and to have faith that he would be found. When I woke up in the morning, Carnell was still missing. Then all of the sudden the phone rang, it was Carnell’s neighbor. His car was in his driveway. He had gotten very lost, but made it home safely. I know that it was my prayers to Heavenly Father and my faith in Jesus that helped my family find Carnell. I am thankful for prayer and for my faith. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

2 Roosters

My mom sent this this to me and I am still laughing! I love it!