China is planning to send about 40 grams of pig sperm into space on board the Shenzhou VI spacecraft to study the effects of space on sperm.

Some of the sperm will be kept outside the spacecraft’s capsule and some inside.

The returning sperm with then used to somehow better understand the processes involved in pig reproduction.

The pigs chosen are a breed called Rongchang, named after an area in the southwest of the country and famed for their physique and for the quality of their meat.