While there are plenty of unknowns involved in being launched into space, at least astronauts can take comfort in knowing the food is among the best their nation has to offer.
Yet the tremendous effort that goes into quality control on space missions - from what type of feed is given to the fish astronauts will eventually eat to the medical history of the cows that supply their milk - only serves as a bitter reminder to some mainlanders, who feel the authorities have failed to ensure basic food safety for the public. According to a mainland media report, authorities control almost every detail of the food supply for astronauts. Each manned space flight costs billions of yuan and having an astronaut falling ill because of a stomach bug could have severe consequences on the mission.
Despite national pride in Beijing's progress with its space programme, however, some mainlanders are frustrated, even angry at what they say is the government's refusal to take public food safety as seriously.
Online reports on astronauts' food generally receive more clicks and comments than stories about the first woman astronaut or the fact that the Shenzhou IX spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch on Saturday, will perform the country's first manned space docking.
The story has revealed one of the big divides on the mainland. While the government has enough money and resources to send astronauts into space, it fails to allocate enough to provide for the basic needs of people.
A special division of the People's Liberation Army guards the astronauts' food supply, according to the report by The Beijing News. They have put up barbed wire around areas near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Gansu province and turned them into farms.