Japanese astronaut flying on carpet

A Japanese astronaut will fly in a vacuum on a carpet to assess the effects of weightlessness on the human body.

Astronaut Koichi Wakata.Photo: Daily Mail.

Koichi Wakata, a 45-year-old astronaut, will sit on the carpet as it floats in space. This is one of the many unique tests that Japan's Space Exploration Agency wants to implement on the ISS International Space Station this month.

'Flying on the carpet is a myth on the ground, but we think humans can do that in outer space,' said a spokesman for the Japan Space Exploration Agency.

Koichi will carry out 16 actions on the ISS in March, such as drops in his eyes, folding clothes and hands with another astronaut. These were selected among hundreds of proposals that the public sent to the Japan Space Exploration Agency. Koichi is also the first astronaut of the 3-month cherry blossoms in the ISS station.

However, Koichi's main task is to assess the effects of weightlessness on the human body in space. In a weightless environment, the density of human bones decreases 10 times faster than when on earth. Finding a way to counter the effects is a necessary requirement for future Mars exploration efforts.

Koichi, a former engineer of Japan Airlines, will be a member of the 7-person crew of the Discovery spacecraft (USA). The ship will be launched on the ISS station on March 11. Before that, astronaut Koichi had twice boarded the space by American shuttle in 1996 and 2000.