Astronauts try to turn urine into drinking water

Astronauts are tinkering with a troublesome piece of equipment designed to help convert urine and sweat into drinkable water, which is vital to allowing the international space station crew to double to six.

Station commander Michael Fincke and space shuttle Endeavour astronaut Donald Pettit changed how a centrifuge is mounted in a urine processor, which is part of the newly delivered $154m (€122m) water-recovery system. The centrifuge is a spinning device that helps separate the water from urine.