Japanese astronaut

Norishige Kanai, who arrived in the ISS late December, was frightened by his sudden growth on Monday: that of not being able to return to Earth.

A Japanese astronaut arrived mid-December in the International Space Station (ISS), worried about an abnormal growth spurt. He was initially afraid of not being able to enter the Soyuz vessel to return to Earth, before realizing Wednesday his mistake.

"We measured our height, and wow, I grew 9 cm!", TweetedMonday Norishige Kanai. "I grew like a plant in just three weeks," he had amused himself, adding that he had not seen such an upheaval since high school."I'm afraid I can not get into Soyuz's headquarters at the time of the return," he added, sparking tens of thousands of reactions on social networks.

"Can anyone take me to space? I want to grow up," lamented @ KakeruTokyo.

In the same vein, this message from @ junnu_pana6mana: "Mr. Kanai, I envy you, I wonder if I would have had a different life if I measured 10 cm more".

At a height of 1.80 m, Norishige Kanai is already much larger than the average Japanese man, who measures 1.71 m according to the latest official statistics.

More fear than harm ! Well-known phenomenon of long stays in space, the body lengthens in the absence of gravity, but quickly found its initial size by returning to the Earth. However Norishige Kanai had a little overestimated his new measurements. After checking the doubts issued by a Russian colleague, he realized that he had in fact grown only two centimeters and hastened to apologize for these "fake news" (false information), according to his terms. "I'm relieved, I'll be able to get into the Soyuz ship," he said.