Nasa astronauts drink Russian PEE as two countries rely on ‘special relationship’ on ISS

AS TENSIONS rise between Russia, Ukraine and the US here on Earth, one astronaut has pointed out how the nations drink each others pee in space.

Nasa astronaut Steve Swanson has spoken out about how he would drink recycled Russian urine on the International Space Station back in 2014.

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Swanson made the comments in a new interview with CNN.

The ISS is divided into two sections.

One is operated by Russian cosmonauts and the other is operated by the US along with other nations.

Swanson told CNN: “We actually recycle the cosmonauts’ urine to get more water for our side to drink.

“Now that’s transcending politics. It’s survival.”

Both sides of the ISS rely on each other to survive so it’s important that all the astronauts get along.

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Astronauts Swanson was living on the ISS when Russia was occupying Crimea but this wasn’t said to cause tensions onboard.

He explained: “Nobody talked about it. It was completely like it’s not happening.

“We were just going about our normal business and not worrying about it.”

However, fellow US astronaut Rick Mastracchio claims that Crimea was mentioned but the ISS does not allow for political drama.

Both astronauts noted that having to recycle urine between nations purely to stay alive symbolized just how different life is up there compared to Earth.

Mastracchio told CNN: “That was always troublesome, to go ask somebody if you could borrow a tank of their urine.”

Nasa’s Administrator Bill Nelson has said he doesn’t expect political conflict on Earth to harm relationships on the ISS.

In other news, today marks the anniversary of the first chimpanzee in space.

Nasa has revealed stunning footage of a solar flare in action.

And, the US space agency is planning for a ‘golden asteroid’ probing mission to launch this summer.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk