Norishige Kanai originally claimed he had dramatically shot up in height after arriving at the International Space Station
A JAPANESE astronaut has apologised for causing “fake news” after tweeting he had grown 9cm (3.5ins) since landing on the International Space Station.
Norishige Kanai, 41, today hastily corrected his initial claim by admitting he has actually only grown 2cm.
Tweeting Wednesday, he admitted: “Although it was a measurement error, it seems that it has become a serious topic. I am very sorry for the terrible fake news”.
The first time astronaut did not explain why he made the initial claim but added he was glad he would be able to return to earth in the Soyuz spacecraft — which has a height limit.
His initial claim — which he called a «serious report» — was carried by news organisations around the world including the BBC, Washington Post and the Sun online.
