Astronauts aboard the space station celebrated¹ a space first on Wednesday by drinking water that had been recycled from their urine, sweat and water that condenses from exhaled² air. They said "cheers," clicked drinking bags and toasted NASA workers on the ground who were sipping⁴ their own version of recycled drinking water.

"The taste is great," American astronaut Michael Barratt said. Then as Russian Gennady Padalka tried to catch little bubbles of the clear water floating in front of him, Barratt called the taste "worth chasing."

He said the water came with labels that said: "drink this when real water is over 200 miles away."

The urine recycling system is needed for astronaut outposts on the moon and Mars. It also will save NASA money because it won't have to ship up as much water to the station by space shuttle or cargo⁵ rockets.

It's also crucial as the space station is about to expand from three people living on board to six.

The recycling system had been brought up to the space station last November by space shuttle Endeavour, but it couldn't be used until samples were tested back on Earth.

The three-man crew stood holding their drinks and congratulated engineers in two NASA centers that worked on the system.

"This is something that had been the stuff of science fiction," Barratt said before taking a sip³.

NASA deputy space shuttle manager LeRoy Cain called it "a huge milestone⁶."

The new system takes the combined urine of the crew from the toilet, moves it to a big tank, where the water is boiled off, and the vapor⁷ collected. The rest of contaminants is thrown away, said Marybeth Edeen, the space station's national lab manager who was in charge of the system.

The water vapor is mixed with water from air condensation⁸, then it goes through filters. When six crew members are aboard it can make about six gallons from urine in about six hours.

The technology NASA developed for this system has already been used for quick water purification after the 2004 Asian tsunami⁹, Edeen said.

"We are happy to have this water work through the system — we're happy to have it work through our systems," Barratt said.

国际空间站的宇航员于本周三庆祝他们喝上了利用尿液、汗液以及蒸汽制出的水，这是太空史上的一大创举。他们用饮水袋碰杯庆祝，高喊“干杯”，与也在饮用循环水的美国宇航局地面工作人员举杯共庆。

美国宇航员迈克尔•巴拉特说：“味道好极了，值得品尝”。当时俄罗斯宇航员杰纳迪•帕达尔卡正试图抓住在他面前漂浮的循环水小气泡。

他开玩笑道，水的商标应该这样写：“当真正的水远在200多英里之外时，就请享用它吧。”

对身处月球和火星“前哨”的宇航员来说，研制尿液循环水系统很有必要。这还将为美国宇航局节省经费，因为他们不再需要专门发射航天飞机或者运载火箭给空间站运送那么多水了。

这对常驻空间站的宇航员将来从三人扩充至六人也至关重要。

这种循环水系统是去年11月由奋进号航天飞机运至空间站的，但直到水样返回地面并经过检测，循环水才可以饮用。

三位宇航员手持水杯，向美国宇航局参与研制循环水系统的两个工程师表示祝贺。

巴拉特在喝循环水之前说：“就像以前科幻小说里描写的一样。”

美国宇航局航天飞机事务副主管勒罗伊•凯恩称之为“一个重要的里程碑”。

负责研制该系统的空间站国家试验室主管玛丽贝斯•艾丁称，新系统收集卫生间的尿液，把它们装进一个大水桶里加热，蒸汽被收集起来，而废物则被丢掉。

尿液中的蒸汽和空气中凝结出的水蒸汽一起被过滤。当空间站里有六名宇航员时，在六小时内可制出约六加仑水。

艾丁称，在2004年亚洲海啸发生后，美国宇航局研制的该技术已被应用于快速水净化。

巴拉特说：“我们很高兴可以喝上系统制出的循环水，系统成功运行真是太令人兴奋了。”

Vocabulary:

outpost：前驱，前哨基地