The drinking water on the International Space Station has been colonized by two hardy species of bacteria, but a new analysis shows they're no more dangerous than those you are likely to encounter on Earth.

The water dispenser on the ISS was originally delivered in 2009, and because lugging water from Earth is an expensive process, it uses specialized filters to recycle drinking water.

However, immediately after the dispenser was installed, an analysis found it to be contaminated by bacteria from the genus Burkholderia, forcing astronauts aboard the station to turn to a Russian back-up water system. .

They also demonstrated the ability for the bacteria to enter human immune cells and split them open was no different than between strains found on the space station and those found on Earth and their resistance to antibiotics was practically unchanged. .