NASA Wants Astronaut Pee

To study for science. Or so they claim.

Scott Smith, a nutritionist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, knows exactly what he'd like to bring back from space—astronauts' urine.

Unraveling the mysterious impacts of microgravity on the human body takes careful and repeated analysis of urine, blood and other scientific samples, most of which have been stranded aboard the International Space (ISS) Station for more than a year.

"We have not brought any samples back since the last shuttle flight," Smith told reporters at a press conference before Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) launched its Dragon cargo capsule earlier this month.