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Two Russian astronauts and an American astronaut took off on Thursday at International Space Station (ISS), leaving the planet in complete combat with the deadly pandemic of the new coronavirus,
American Chris Cassidy from NASA and Russians Anatoly Ivanichin and Ivan Wagner from Roskosmos flew at 08:05 GMT from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They have a six-hour flight in front of them.
“Union MS-16 has been successfully put into orbit” The Russian space agency Roskosmos reports on Twitter.
Just before takeoff, the crew said it was “good,” according to NASA television, the US space agency, which broadcast the launch live.
The six-month mission aboard the ISS was maintained, despite Covid-19 but various rituals were canceled to limit the risk of spreading the disease.
Relatives and journalists were not at the traditional press conference on Wednesday before the departure, which was held by videoconference, without an audience.
“Instead of talking to cameras, we will talk to people right now,” Cassidy said, referring to conversations that take place at these press conferences under other circumstances.
The 50-year-old astronaut, who is setting off for space for the third time, admitted that the crew was “affected” by this lack of human contact.
“But we understand that the whole world is also affected by the same crisis”he added.
As with every mission, three people and their respective spacesuits were quarantined, which this time started early to prevent them from contracting the virus before takeoff.
On March 12, the crew was detained at the Zvezdny Gorodok training center near Moscow, and he had to miss an ordinary visit to the grave of the first man in space, the legendary Russian Yuri Gagarin, at the foot of the Kremlin.
While Moscow, which has become the main focus of the pandemic in Russia, began to count the first cases of a new coronavirus.
The launch on Thursday was the first aboard the Soyuz-2.1a rocket, as the Russian space agency Roscosmos abandoned the old Soyuz-FG ships last year.
This new model, used for unmanned launches since 2004, is based on a digital and non-analog control system, as in previous missiles.
Three men will find on board the space station the Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripotchka and the American astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir, who will return to Earth on April 17.
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The ISS usually accommodates six people at a time and has a living area of 388 cubic meters, more than a six-bedroom house, according to NASA.
These conditions may seem enviable to more than a third of earthlings who are currently undergoing strict containment measures to control the spread of Covid-19.
This does not prevent the inhabitants of the International Space Station from feeling lonely or wanting to be at home. In recent weeks, some of them, some still aboard the ISS, have shared their advice on a good conclusion.
In an article for the New York Times, Scott Kelly from NASA said he missed the most during his nearly year-long mission in space: “Greenery, the smell of fresh earth and the warm feeling of the sun on my face.”
He recommends to those who can breathe and feel that there is nothing wrong with spending more time in front of screens during detention.
For example, during his stay aboard the ISS, between 2015 and 2016, the astronaut admitted that he had watched the popular series of the Games of Thrones and films twice at night with his colleagues.
Cosmonaut Sergei Ryazansky, who completed two space missions, became the face of a 10-week sporting event with the support of Roscosmos.
Participants must broadcast a video of their training at home, like an astronaut on a mission.
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