“The International Space Station TOILET SYSTEM converts URINE into DRINKING WATER.”

National Geographic 5,000 Awesome Facts, Fact #18 on toilets

“According to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, an adequate daily water intake is about 3.7 liters for men (roughly a gallon) and about 2.7 liters for women (about seven-tenths of a gallon). Another general rule of thumb is to drink “half your body weight in ounces” for a regular day.” (https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/water/)

So where do astronauts get a gallon of water a day to drink and to brush their teeth while they are out in space? There is no running water floating around in the atmosphere that is easily accessible.

It turns out that NASA scientists have been able to filter, basically recycle, their wastewater, including urine and sweat, and distill it into drinking water.

ECLSS, Environmental Control and Life Support System, has hardware that provides clean air and water to the International Space Station (ISS).

They use advanced de-humidifiers that captures the breath and the moisture of the crew, therefore turning it into drinking water. (https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/astronauts-urine-sweat-almost-entirely-recycled-drinking-water-new-sys-rcna91619)

The collective water then goes through what is called the Brine Processor Assembly, which extracts any remaining water from the brine. “Before this added component, only about 93% or 94% of water could be recycled instead of the current 98%, according to ECLSS water subsystems manager Jill Williamson.

That definitely will come in handy as astronauts are traveling around space for days at a time and helps lessen the load of supplies put on the space craft.