China's first man in space has said that Chinese astronauts eat dog meat to keep their strength up as they orbit around Earth

Yang Liwei, the military pilot who commanded the Shenzhou Five mission in 2003, revealed the menu on-board the spacecraft in his autobiography. He listed a menu including braised chicken, steamed fish and dog meat from Huajiang county in Guangdong, which is famed for its nutritional benefits in China. He said that the diet had been specially drawn up for the astronauts by Chinese nutritionists and that the food had been purchased from special suppliers in Beijing. Dog is widely eaten in northern China, where it is believed to help battle the winter cold. The menu was still in use in 2009, when Chinese astronauts conducted their first ever spacewalk.