An apology for "tweeting out such fake news" didn't come from a media member accused by President Trump, but from a Japanese astronaut whose<\/b>
\nAn apology for \u00ab\u00a0tweeting out such fake news \u00a0\u00bb didn’t come from a media member accused by President Trump, but from a Japanese astronaut whose growth in outer space was miscalculated.
In a tweet on Monday, Norishige Kanai claimed he had grown by as much as 3 1\/2 inches since arriving at the International Space Station on Dec. 19.
\u00ab\u00a0I have a major announcement today,\u00a0\u00bb Kanai wrote in Japanese, as translated by the BBC . \u00ab\u00a0We had our bodies measured after reaching space, and wow, wow, wow, I had actually grown by as much as 9cm!\u00a0\u00bb
As NASA points out, \u00ab\u00a0It is a commonly known fact that astronauts living aboard the International Space Station grow up to 3 percent taller while living in microgravity.\u00a0\u00bb The spine is allowed to stretch with less gravity pushing down on it. Come bedtime, a similar phenomenon happens here on Earth as well. After reclining for sleep, people can grow by a centimeter or 2, then after they get up the vertebrae compress once again.
And when astronauts return to earth, so too do they return to their usual height. But the norm for outer space growth maxes out around 2 inches, NASA says, not 3 1\/2.
Kanai, who is also a doctor and on his first space mission, seemed surprised himself, even concerned by the initial measurement. \u00ab\u00a0I 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,\u00a0\u00bb he wrote.
That led to headlines and social media posts fretting over whether Kanai would indeed be able to fold his new frame into the Soyuz spacecraft \u2014 a notoriously cramped space \u2014 upon his return to earth in June.
But after a Russian colleague expressed doubt about the spurt, Kanai took another look and realized that a \u00ab\u00a0measurement mistake\u00a0\u00bb led to his overstating his growth by nearly 3 inches.
He found he had actually only grown about 3\/4 of an inch and was \u00ab\u00a0very sorry\u00a0\u00bb for the mistake.
Kanai said he was a \u00ab\u00a0bit relieved\u00a0\u00bb he will fit into the Soyuz on the way home after all.
But first, Kanai, who is spending his time as a flight engineer aboard the ISS \u2014 an Earth-orbiting satellite \u2014 as part of the Expedition 54\/55 crew is \u00ab\u00a0helping doctors understand how being away from the normal 24-hour sunrise-sunset cycle impacts the human body,\u00a0\u00bb says NASA .<\/p>\n