Four Chinese volunteers end 180-day stay in space capsule

Four Chinese volunteers, including a woman, today concluded their 180-day living experiment in a sealed space capsule, to test technologies intended for deep-space exploration in the future.
The project's technical chief Li Yinghui said the experiment was "a complete success".
The volunteers have grown 25 kinds of plants and tested 635 pieces of equipment in the capsule in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
The test of the "controlled ecological life support system" has been inspired by technology currently used in China's Shenzhou spacecraft.
One experiment recycled supply all of the oxygen and water in the capsule and part of the food for the four volunteers, while other tests with regard to nutrition, hygiene, work and rest in space have also been completed.

The project also sheds light on the physiological effects of a hermetic environment and changes to biological rhythms, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The volunteers -- three men and one woman -- were selected from 2,110 candidates after the Astronaut Centre of China launched a call for volunteers in May last year.
They have lived for 18-days in a 1,340-cubic-meter sealed capsule with a floor space of 370 square meters, divided into eight compartments, including the passenger compartment, resource compartment and greenhouse compartments.
The project's success has opened up new areas in life support technology for extraterrestrial bases, Li said.