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<b>China To Send Pig Sperm To Space </b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />China is planning to study the effects of space on sperm, by sending the semen from pedigree pigs into orbit. <br /><br />Some 40 grams of pig sperm will be taken on board the Shenzhou VI spacecraft for its October launch. <br /><br />Some of the sperm will be kept outside the spacecraft's biological capsule and some inside, according to China's Xinhua news agency. <br /><br />Surviving sperm will be returned to Earth and used to understand better the processes involved in pig reproduction. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />Agricultural experts hope to use the sperm to fertilise pig eggs back on Earth - to see what effect a period of microgravity will have had on the sperm's activity. <br /><br />China's first manned spaceflight two years ago made it the third country able to launch a human into space on its own, along with Russia and the United States. <br /><br />During the upcoming mission, two astronauts will orbit the planet five or six times. <br /><br /><i>(apologies if this has already been posted..)</i>