How NASA is preparing to launch humans to space as coronavirus pandemic worsens

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen in the US, NASA is still moving forward with many of its upcoming missions, including some launches that will send humans to the International Space Station in the near future. As of now, NASA does not foresee any changes being made to these missions, and there are already procedures in place to guarantee astronauts do not bring any illnesses with them into space. NASA has its own internal “response framework” for how it plans to deal with the pandemic. It lists four different stages for the agency, which each detail the amount of people who will work from home, the level of access to NASA facilities, and how much travel will be allowed.

Right now, two NASA centers — Ames Research Center and Marshall Space Flight Center — are on Stage 3, which makes telework mandatory and only allows “mission-essential” personnel on site at facilities. NASA bumped these two centers to Stage 3 after employees tested positive for COVID-19 at each place. NASA’s Johnson Space Center, which oversees the agency’s human spaceflight launches and operates the International Space Station, is only at Stage 2. At that level, teleworking is strongly encouraged, though not mandatory, while various facilities are closed down.

“The health and safety of NASA’s workforce is the agency’s top priority. As the coronavirus (COVID-19) concern continues to escalate, NASA is taking steps to ensure its workforce is protected and informed,” a NASA spokesperson at JSC said in a statement. But as more workers at JSC stay home, they’re still looking ahead to the next launch of people to the ISS, which is slated for April 9th out of Kazakhstan. A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch three crew members, including NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, to the station, where they’ll join three people already in orbit.

That launch is still on, and NASA says the agency hasn’t made any changes to operations and schedule surrounding the mission. As of yesterday, Kazakhstan effectively closed its borders after reporting its first coronavirus cases in the country. No one can enter the country except for diplomats, returning citizens, and those invited by the country’s government, according to Reuters. NASA is still assessing if changes are needed regarding how personnel will travel to Kazakhstan.

Of course, the concern is that the astronauts flying to the station could carry the coronavirus with them, if they don’t know that they’re infected with the virus. But NASA already has a long-held strategy in place for preventing astronauts from carrying any nasty bugs with them to space. All astronauts going to orbit must go through a two-week period of quarantine called “health stabilization,” according to NASA.