After five days of work, astronauts aboard the Endeavour shuttle have succeeded in the ultimate feat of recycling—turning urine into water. This is thanks to a new machine that should help more people live aboard the International space station at one time.

The urine recycler will be part of a more widely used water recycling system, now valued at $154 million. Since the ISS crew will grow from three to six people in 2009, the use of this new machine is crucial for the station to have a sufficient drinking-water supply. But before putting the new pee-cleaning device online, samples of the liquid will be taken back to Earth for further analysis.

This makes me think of the desert suits worn by the people of Arrakis in Dunes (The book or movie), where all moisture, including urine, is processed and filtered to be fed back to the wearer.

Somehow, this just doesn’t sound right, but hey, drinking a neighbor’s processed pee is always better than dying of dehydration, isn’t it?