Sure, it sucks to lose bone and muscle mass in outer space, but on the flip side, astronauts gain height. After a year of weightless suspension in a tin can, astronaut Scott Kelly is now a full 5cm taller than his twin brother Mark and has unlimited gloating rights, NASA’s Jeff Williams told CNN this week.
Apparently, this was expected: freed from the bounds of gravity, a person’s spine tends to elongate in weightlessness. Sadly, Kelly will not get to keep his height advantage for long now that he’s back on Earth, unless maybe he gets into extreme yoga. Or unless his DNA underwent a critical, height-altering mutation in space, in which case he probably now has superpowers too. Who can say.
Either way, I foresee “height enhancements” becoming a key selling point for the future space tourism industry.
[CNN]
Image: NASA/Flickr