Space station's new urine recycler has glitches

By Irene Klotz

HOUSTON (Reuters) - NASA is having problems with a $250 million system it just delivered to the International Space Station to recycle urine and other wastewater into drinking water for astronauts.

But the glitches were not unexpected and will hopefully be ironed out in time for the visiting shuttle Endeavour crew to bring home its first samples, the U.S. space agency said on Friday.

The system shut down twice during initial attempts on Thursday and Friday to begin the distillation process on precollected samples of urine.

The system delivered this week is designed to recycle astronauts' urine and other wastewater into purified water for drinking. It will help clear the way for a doubling of the space station's crew to six members in May.

"I fully expected things not to work perfectly," station commander Mike Fincke said during an in-flight news conference.

"No matter how well we plan on the ground or test on the ground, you really need to test-fly it and that's what we're doing here.

"We're very hopeful that we can get the first round of samples through during this mission while Endeavour is still here," he added.

The U.S. space agency needs the system to be running perfectly for 90 days before expanding the station's crew.