N'Sync star 'two inches shorter'

Lance Bass currently features in Dancing With The Stars in the US

N'Sync star Lance Bass says he is two inches shorter since returning from his Russian cosmonaut training in 2002.

Speaking on Jay Leno's US chat show, the 29-year-old said: "I got shorter. I did! I don't know what happened.

"My torso was too long to fit in the rocket seat," he added. "They had to make a special suit so when I was in space it would contract me."

The star had been training to be a space tourist but failed to come up with funding to secure his seat.

He explained that he had had to curl up to fit into the cramped Soyuz rocket module.

"I came back shorter. Everyone said: 'You're much shorter', so I measured myself and... yeah," the star added.

Bad food

Bass described his training regime as "intense - every day from five in the morning until nine at night.

"It was condensed training because it takes years to become a cosmonaut and they only had six months to train me.

"I had a translator that didn't speak much English and a Russian teacher that spoke only French and Russian - they thought that's how I'd learn it better," he said.

Bass said he had always wanted to be an astronaut and added the food he received while in Russia was "not so good".

The star was originally due to host a space competition show where contestants would compete for a seat on the Russian Soyuz space capsule.

After the concept fell through, Bass was approached to feature in a documentary to put the youngest person and first entertainer in space.

But after beginning the training, the Russian Space Agency said the star and his representatives had been given several deadlines in which to come up with the $20m (£12.9m) needed to fund the trip, but had failed to hand over any cash.

The star is currently taking part in US reality show Dancing With The Stars - a spin-off of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.