Prior to manned space mission, the former Soviet Union and the U.S. conducted several tests with monkeys, dogs or gorillas onboard the space shuttle to examine the life insurance system. However, no animal test onboard the space shuttle was performed by us from launch of Shenzhou 1 in 1999 up to now.

Some experts explained it with the following three reasons: firstly, the different physiology systems of the animals and the human beings may lead to inaccurate measurement data; secondly, monkeys onboard the spacecraft are prone to make troubles; thirdly and also most importantly, the animal tests onboard the spacecrafts performed by the Soviet Union and the U.S. were primarily owing to the fact that no manned space mission was once conducted. So, many uncertainties of the impact on human life in the zero-g environment required for animal test. The foreign experience in this context has demonstrated the feasibility of manned space mission, for example, an astronaut from the former Soviet Union lived in the space over 400 days, and then returned to the earth healthily. With the scientific development, the human activities in the space could be simulated mechanically, while an environmental control and life insurance system onboard the space shuttle may create a comfortable environment for the astronauts, eliminating the need of animal test. Therefore, manned space mission on the space orbit could be simulated with scientific devices, providing various space flight test data more scientifically and rationally.