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"I was so excited by the news," said Friday the 41-year-old doctor in an interview with AFP, "the caller" a major discovery that inspires dreams. "
International astronomers announced Wednesday that they have detected the largest body of liquid water ever found on the Red Planet, a breakthrough that may hold clues as to whether life has already formed on Mars – or even exists today.
Kanai, who has spent 168 days on the International Space Station, firmly believes that we are not alone in the universe and that there is life there.
"I think there are," he said. "In the vast universe everything could be possible."
"I have high hopes that the discovery of extraterrestrial life forms could open a new page in learning."
The soft-spoken spaceman, nicknamed "Nemo" as a diving doctor in Japan's Maritime Self Defense Force, exploded in space for the first time in December.
Growing Pains
Following in the footsteps of other media astronauts, Kanai tweeted about his stay at the Japanese space station.
But his foray into social media came with some growing pains: he was forced to apologize and a correction after falsely claiming that he had grown nine centimeters a few weeks after his arrival.
When a colleague suggested that growth was unlikely, despite the fact that astronauts' spines were expanding in the space-free environment, Norishige was remeasured .
It turned out that a mix of centimeters and inches was to blame, and he said on Friday that he had actually grown only two or three centimeters during his stay.
He's been shrinking since He came back to Earth on June 3rd, but he's still a centimeter older, he said.
"It's interesting how long it will take to get back to my original size."
Kanai, whose Twitter profile portrays him in cartoon fo He admits that he was not always the most likely candidate to join the Japanese space agency JAXA, though that is not the best. he is now the youngest astronaut in the agency.
He was a boy "reserved, cautious" rather than adventurous. [19659002] "I was the boy of a grandmother," he says. "When she was sewing, we did it together … I had a rather girlie childhood."
But one of the skills that he has acquired as a The child has proved to be a surprising application during the rigorous selection process of JAXA
a week in a capsule performing various tasks, including the folding of paper cranes, which, according to the JAXA
. agency, tests patience and stability under stress.
Fortunately, Kanai was a hand at origami since childhood
Space for All
"I do not know if it gave me an advantage … but I knew how to do it. I am adroit and like doing small repetitive tasks. This task was easy for me, "he said.
While speaking, he cleverly folded a piece of origami paper into a crane, without even seated himself on a table to support him.
While Kanai now belongs to an elite group of astronauts, he is eager to see the space become more accessible.
"I think the space is not only for" I am in favor of the idea of a "nice" space or interesting ideas from the. private companies to use space. "
He still does not know where he'll be chosen for new missions and admits to having had mixed emotions while returning to Earth last month
"I felt sorry that this ends. But I was also happy to finally return to Japan because six months is long.
"I had complex feelings, half happy, half sad."
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