Why using "reduced stature"

Question

SalaamDoes "reduced stature" in the following paragraph means that Gagarin wasn't tall? Why the author has used the word "reduced"?Thanks in advance!"Born on a collective farm west of Moscow in 1934, Gagarin is an experienced pilot and parachutist, with a special empathy. In addition, his reduced stature (1.57 metres) made it easier for him to be chosen out of 20 candidates, due to the small size of the space cabin."

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SeyyedAliDoes "reduced stature" in the following paragraph means that Gagarin wasn't tall?

Yes.

SeyyedAliWhy the author has used the word "reduced"?

"reduced stature" is an elaborate, perhaps mildly comic, way of saying that he wasn't very tall. The author has probably used this phrase just to add a bit of colour to the writing. This is assuming the phrase was deliberately written by a native English speaker, and not an accidental result of translation. I wondered about this, since the phrase "with a special empathy" seems unfinished to me, and also "space cabin" does not seem a very native phrase. However, the whole article, which I only skimmed through, does not obviously seem non-native.

Why using "reduced stature"

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