Do cartoon characters have the famous "right stuff" to be space travellers? We'll 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's red costume during his eight-day stint aboard the ISS, as well as build a plastic replica of his hero, also known as the "Red Comet".

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's sartorial intentions. "The uniqueness of our programme is that it's open to all private citizens," a spokeswoman told New Scientist last week. "What he chooses to wear is up to him."

But she stressed that Enomoto will have to forgo his Char persona on a couple of occasions. "For launch and re-entry, he'll have to wear the usual, protective Sokol space suit," she said.