Japanese space tourist says he would love longer flight

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — A Japanese space tourist says he felt his 12-day mission to the International Space Station was too short and he would love to stay a week more. Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, his producer Yozo Hirano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin blasted off to the station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Dec. 8 and returned to Earth on Monday. Maezawa said Wednesday “it takes three or four days to adapt and then you realize that there are just eight days left and it’s not enough.” Maezawa and Hirano were the first self-paying tourists to visit the space station since 2009.