A Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut worried he might be outgrowing his clothes while in space.
Astronaut Norishige Kanai is now slightly taller than he was when he left Earth in December.
Space does weird things to your body. One of the odder effects is elongating your spine, which makes you taller. NASA notes astronauts can grow up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) due to microgravity, but Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai was worried he’d expanded much more than that while on the International Space Station.
The story of Kanai’s space growth spurt played out on Twitter over the last couple days. His first tweet said he grew a whopping 3.5 inches (9 centimeters) in his first few weeks in space. The JAXA astronaut joked he might not be able to squeeze into his Soyuz capsule seat to return home at the end of his mission.
