Amidst a coronavirus pandemic, three astronauts leave Earth for a space mission | Science and health

American Chris Cassidy of NASA and Russians Anatoli Ivanichin and Ivan Vagner of Roskosmos took off at 08:05 GMT (05:05 GMT) from the Russian cosmopolitan in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The flight is expected to take six hours to the International Space Station (ISS).

“The Soyuz MS-16 has been successfully launched into orbit,” the Russian space agency Roskosmos announced on Twitter.

Just before takeoff, the crew said it “felt good,” according to television by NASA, the US space agency, which broadcast the launch live.

Rituals canceled due to coronavirus

The six-month mission aboard the ISS continues despite Covid-19, but many rituals have been canceled to limit the risk of the disease spreading.

Relatives and journalists were not present on Wednesday (8) at the traditional pre-match press conference, this time by videoconference.

“Instead of talking to cameras, right now, we would be talking to people,” Cassidy said, referring to the conversations taking place at these press conferences, under other circumstances.

The 50-year-old astronaut, who came out the third time in space, acknowledged that the crew was “affected” by this lack of human contact. “We understand that everyone is also affected by the same crisis,” he said.

Quarantined crew

Since March 12, the crew has been confined to the training center near Moscow. The group did not make the traditional visit to the grave of the first man in space, Russian Yuri Gagarin. At that time, Moscow, the main focus of the pandemic in Russia, was beginning to account for the first cases of coronavirus.

As with each mission, the three men and their respective space suits were quarantined, which this time started earlier to prevent them from contracting the virus before takeoff.

The group will meet with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripotchka and American astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir on the ISS, who will return to Earth on April 17.

Containment Council

The ISS accommodates six people at a time and has a habitable volume of 388 cubic meters, more than a six-room house, according to NASA. These conditions may seem enviable to more than a third of Earth’s population, which is currently undergoing strict containment measures to control the spread of Covid-19.

However, this does not prevent the residents of the International Space Station from feeling lonely or wanting to be home. In recent weeks, many of them, some on board the ISS, have shared their advice for a good lockdown.

In an interview with the New York Times, Scott Kelly of NASA stated that what he missed most during his nearly one-year mission in space was nature: “the green, the smell of fresh earth and the warm sensation of sun on my face. ”

He recommended, for those who can, take a breath, and felt that there is nothing wrong with spending more time in front of the screens during confinement.

During his time aboard the ISS, between 2015 and 2016, for example, the astronaut admitted to having watched the popular “Game of Thrones” series and movies at night with his colleagues twice.