A Japanese astronaut has apologized for causing \u201cfake news\u201d after tweeting he had grown 3.5 inchessince landing on the International Space Station.<\/p>\n
Norishige Kanai, 41, hastily corrected his initial claim by admitting he has actually only grown 2 cm, or about 3\/4 of an inch.<\/p>\n
Tweeting Wednesday, he admitted: \u201cAlthough it was a measurement error, it seems that it has become a serious topic. I am very sorry for the terrible fake news.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
His initial claim \u2014 which he called a \u201cserious report\u201d \u2014 was carried by news organizations around the world, including the BBC and Washington Post.<\/p>\n
Kania tweeted that he feared he might not be able to fit in the Soyuz spacecraft, due to bring him back in June.<\/p>\n
The flight engineer said: \u201cWe had our bodies measured after reaching space, and wow, wow, wow, I had actually grown as much as 9 cm.! I grew like some plant in just three weeks.<\/p>\n