Yahoo News Astronaut ‘grows three inches in three weeks in space' and now worries he can't come back
An astronaut claims that he has grown by three inches in just three weeks on the Space Station – and is now concerned he won’t be able to return to Earth.
Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai says that he has grown 9cm in just three weeks – and now worries he won’t fit into the capsule to return to our planet.
Kanai says that he has not experienced such a rapid growth spurt since he was at school.
He said on Twitter, ‘Good morning, everybody. I have a major announcement today. We had our bodies measured after reaching space, and wow, wow, wow, I had actually grown by as much as 9cm!
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‘I grew like some plant in just three weeks. Nothing like this since high school. I’m a bit worried whether I’ll fit in the Soyuz seat when I go back.’
Astronauts do tend to ‘grow’ while in space, although growing 9cm in three weeks would be highly unusual.
Astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth after a year in space to find that he was two inches taller than his own twin brother, NASA said.
NASA says that most astronauts grow by up to 3% during stints on the Space Station, in an example of how microgravity affects our bodies.
NASA says, ‘Imagine that the vertebrae in your back form a giant spring. Pushing down on the spring keeps it coiled tightly.
‘When the force is released, the spring stretches out. In the same way, the spine elongates by up to three percent while humans travel in space. There is less gravity pushing down on the vertebrae, so they can stretch out – up to 7.6 centimetres (3 inches).’
