Japan astronaut worried by space growth spurt

Member of the International Space Station expedition 54/55, Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) during the send-off ceremony after checking their space suits before the launch of the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 17 December 2017. -Reuters

TOKYO: A Japanese astronaut has sparked hilarity back on Earth after he claimed to have grown nine centimetres in space, making him worried he would not squeeze into the capsule home.

Norishige Kanai, who is aboard the International Space Station, tweeted: “We had our bodies measured after reaching space, and wow, wow, wow, I had actually grown by as much as 9 centimetres (3.5 inches)!“