How the coronavirus pandemic has affected NASA’s first SpaceX manned mission

Related: How SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule works (infographic)

Demo-2 will also be the first manned orbital flight for a new American spacecraft since 1981, when the space shuttle debuted So preparations for the next mission would always be intense and meticulous. But the emergence and spread of the new coronavirus has added another layer of complexity, for both NASA and SpaceX.

“We knew it would be difficult to prepare for launch, but then in this new environment we had to take even more precautions,” said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, during a Demo-2 press conference on Friday (May 1). “Because it’s not really just about the safety of Bob and Doug, but also about the safety of the crew aboard the International Space Station“

NASA already quarantines ISS-bound astronauts shortly before takeoff as standard operating procedure, to reduce the chance that newcomers will infect their crewmates with an unpleasant error. But the agency significantly increased its health and safety procedures in response to the coronavirus threat, Lueders and other NASA officials said.

For example, the agency has minimized contact with Behnken and Hurley for weeks, said Steve Stich, deputy director of the Commercial Crew Program.

“They only come to certain training events where they really need to be present,” Stich said at a different press conference on Friday. “Many training events are held virtually, and then the number of people at a particular training event is dramatically reduced.”

People who come in contact with the two astronauts wear masks and gloves and “are examined from a health perspective,” Stich added.

Additional precautions will also be taken on launch day with all teams supporting the mission, he said. For example, NASA has reorganized the design of control rooms at the launch site, the agency’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, to ensure that workers there can maintain a distance of 6 feet (1.8 meters) to each other.

Those workers will have masks and easy access to the hand sanitizer, Stich added. And the various rooms are meticulously kept clean and sanitized.

NASA teams also incorporate these precautions into their launch simulation exercises. One of those exercises occurred in mid-April and another will take place on Monday (May 4), Stich said.

“So far, it has worked well, and we don’t really see any impact on how we are going to operate on launch day, appointment day or any other part of the flight,” he said.

Related: SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Demo-1 test flight in pictures

SpaceX has been equally conscientious, said Gwynne Shotwell, the company’s president and chief operating officer. For example, when Behnken and Hurley visit SpaceX headquarters in Southern California for training, the company ensures that only “essential personnel” approach the two astronauts, Shotwell said. Those essential personnel wear masks and gloves, and training facilities are cleaned twice a day, he added.

“I think we are really doing a great job of making sure that we are not affecting the safety or health of astronauts’ lives,” Shotwell said Friday, during the same briefing Lueders participated in.

SpaceX is taking similar steps to protect its own employees, it added. More than half of the company’s engineering staff currently work from home, and those who still enter the office have protective gear, Shotwell said. (The federal government regards the aerospace industry as a “critical infrastructure sector,” so SpaceX is exempt from the executive order from California Governor Gavin Newsom’s home office.)

Space shuttle launches have always drawn crowds to the Florida space coast, and Demo-2 would likely have been an especially busy event. But the pandemic has rejected a huge launch party in person; NASA tells people that Stay at home and watch the mission on their computer screens.

That is a nuisance to many of us, especially Behnken and Hurley.

“It is certainly a disappointing aspect of this whole pandemic, it is the fact that we will not have the luxury of our family and friends being there at Kennedy to see the launch,” Hurley said at another Demo-2 press conference on Friday. . “But it is obviously the right thing to do in today’s environment.”

The two astronauts have been isolated for quite some time. But they will enter mandatory pre-flight quarantine on May 16 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, agency officials said. They will travel to the space coast aboard a NASA plane approximately one week before takeoff, remaining in quarantine the entire time.