NASA and SpaceX (an American private aerospace manufacturer) were planning the first crewed orbital launch, starting from the USA, in years.
The departure was scheduled for the end of March but due to the Coronavirus outbreak it has been put off till 27th May. It is meant to send the astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station and it's a pretty big deal for the US. Because of this pandemic the austronauts had to change their routines and training a little bit, they have been put into quarantine and are going to the headquarters only few days during the week.
But I'm asking myself, how can they practice social distancing while in the space? Will they have to do that while on the mission? Is it necessary for them to do that? A lot of questions are left unanswered and, don't get me wrong, but if I think about two austronauts (who are already doing a pretty intense job) also trying to social distance themselves from one another, the situation seems kinda hilarious.
Nonetheless no one is sure of whether the launch of Demo-2 will actually take place, but if the pandemic can also affect us in space then Houston, we might have a problem.
Illustration by Jasmine Abd El Gelil