Do cartoon characters have the famous 鈥渞ight stuff鈥� to be space travellers? We鈥檒l soon find out. The fourth space tourist to visit the International Space Station next October will be Char Aznable, ace fighter pilot from cult Japanese anime series Gundam.
Actually, it will be his human alter ego. Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto wants to wear Char鈥檚 red costume during his eight-day stint aboard the ISS, as well as build a plastic replica of his hero, also known as the 鈥淩ed Comet鈥�.
Enomoto, an internet entrepreneur who calls himself Dice-K after the lucrative website he founded, will spend six months next year at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, preparing for his trip, which will last 10 days in all. Space Adventures, the company that is arranging the trip, has no problem with Enomoto鈥檚 sartorial intentions. 鈥淭he uniqueness of our programme is that it鈥檚 open to all private citizens,鈥� a spokeswoman told New 杏吧原创 last week. 鈥淲hat he chooses to wear is up to him.鈥�
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But she stressed that Enomoto will have to forgo his Char persona on a couple of occasions. 鈥淔or launch and re-entry, he鈥檒l have to wear the usual, protective Sokol space suit,鈥� she said.
