Space station crew to blast off despite virus-hit build up
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
Science & Technology
- Published
9th Apr, 2020
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- A three-man crew is set to travel to the International Space Station, leaving behind a planet overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic.
- Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of Russia's Roscosmos space agency and NASA's Chris Cassidy will blast off from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where COVID-19 has caused changes to pre-launch protocol.
- Astronauts routinely go into quarantine ahead of space missions and give a final press conference at Baikonur from behind a glass wall to protect them from infection.
- The ISS typically carries up to six people at a time and has a livable space of 388 cubic metres (13,700 cubic feet) -- larger than a six-bedroom house according to NASA.
- The International Space Station—a rare example of cooperation between Russia and the West–has been orbiting Earth at about 28,000 kilometres per hour (17,000 miles per hour) since 1998.
