Don't call it a tracksuit. The outfit on Japanese Internet entrepreneur Daisuke Enomoto is actually a highly engineered space uniform. Enomoto – who goes by Dice-K – is slated to become one of Japan's first space tourists, paying $20 million to travel agency Space Adventures for a Soyuz blast to the International Space Station. His mission: to boldly take space fashion to new heights.
For help in this endeavor, Dice-K enlisted anime giant Bandai, fabric specialist Toray, and apparel maker Goldwin. What he wanted, he says, was something like Captain Char Aznable's getup on the Gundam anime series. But "this is real spacewear," warns Dice-K's spokesperson, Chris Battin, using a picture of Captain James T. Kirk to illustrate his point. "There's no cape, magic belt, or high-lace boots."
Alas, Dice-K's bid to reach orbit in September was grounded when, after hundreds of hours of training, he failed a physical in late August. But the Hong Kong-based millionaire is undeterred. "My quest toward space is not over yet," he wrote on his blog, asserting that he will get healthy for a future mission. Stacey Tearne at Space Adventures confirms that Dice-K will be a candidate for another launch, though it probably won't be until 2008 or later. At least he's got a killer jogging outfit to wait around in.
– Spencer Reiss
Daisuke Enomoto
credit Jun Takagi
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