Washington, Jan 10: A day after a Japanese astrout living on the Intertiol Space Station (ISS) claimed that he had grown nine cm in space, he has apologised for the mistake, the media reported.Norishige Kai, aboard the ISS, wrote on Twitter that he “had actually grown by as much as 9 cm” after a measurement in space.
However, he later said that he was mistaken. After measuring himself again and adjusting his new height increase to two cm Kai was now 182 cm, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.”Measurement errors? But it seems to have become a serious topic. I’m terribly sorry it’s fake news,” Kai tweeted. On Tuesday Kai had said in a tweet: “We had our bodies measured after reaching space, and wow, wow, wow, I had actually grown by as much as nine centimetres (3.5 inches)!” “I’m a bit worried whether I’ll fit in the Soyuz seat when I go back,” he added. To fit in a Soyuz seat, an astrout should be no taller than 190 cm when standing and 99 cm when seated, according to SA.His words attracted 40,000 likes and 22,000 retweets. The news has drawn extraordiry intertiol attention to his first expedition on board the ISS. According to past studies by SA scientists, astrouts do get taller in space by about three per cent, which means a 1.8-metre person could gain approximately five cm while in orbit. (IANS)