A diet of worms: Chinese volunteers spend 105 days eating creepy crawlies in space experiment
Researchers have spent more than three months living in a sealed lab to simulate growing their own food away from Earth
Three volunteers have chalked up another first for China's space programme.
They have spent 105 days living in a sealed test laboratory in Beijing and proved that worms can be the main source of protein during long space missions.
The idea of using the animals as one of the main sources of food to sustain astronauts met with resistance in the West after scientists from China first proposed the idea in 2009.
Critics argued that although worms were high in protein, they would look unappetising and lower morale among astronauts.
But the volunteers in the Beijing experiment showed little physical or mental discomfort after spending three months munching on the invertebrate animals, according to a scientist involved in the research.
The results of the project will now be considered by China's space authorities in the design and construction of future manned space missions.