Almaty (Kazakhstan) (AFP)

Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut are scheduled to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, leaving behind a blue planet plagued by the coronavirus pandemic.

NASA's Chris Cassidy of the United States of America and Russians Anatoli Ivanichine and Ivan Vagner of Roskosmos will take off at 8:05 GMT from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Although their six-month mission on board the ISS was maintained despite the Covid-19, several rituals were however canceled to limit the risks of spreading the disease.

Their families and journalists were therefore not invited to the traditional press conference before departure on Wednesday. The latter therefore took place by videoconference, without audience, in a rather dull atmosphere.

"Instead of talking to the cameras, we would be talking to people right now," said Chris Cassidy, referring to these exchanges, which usually take place in a good mood.

The 50-year-old astronaut, who is going into 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 before each space mission, the three men and their liners had been placed in quarantine, which this time started earlier to prevent them from contracting the virus before takeoff.

As of March 12, the crew was confined to the training center of the City of Stars, near Moscow, and had to ignore the customary visit to the tomb of the first man in space, Iouri Gagarin , at the foot of the Kremlin.

At the same time, cases of coronavirus were beginning to be reported in the capital, which has become the main focus of the epidemic in Russia.

Thursday's launch will be the first on board a Soïouz-2.1a rocket, the Russian space agency Roskosmos having last year stopped operating the older Soïouz-FG.

This new model, used for unmanned launches since 2004, is based on a digital control system and not analog as for the previous vehicles.

The three men will join on board the orbital laboratory cosmonaut Oleg Skripotchka and astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir, who are scheduled to return from the ISS on Earth on April 17.

- Containment advice -

The ISS usually accommodates six people at a time and has a living space of 388 cubic meters, more than a six-bedroom house, according to NASA.

These conditions may seem enviable to more than a third of Terrans currently experiencing containment measures decided to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Residents of the International Space Station are not immune to strong feelings of loneliness or the desire to be at home. In recent weeks, several of them, some of whom are still on the ISS, have shared their advice on good containment.

In an article for the New York Times, Scott Kelly of NASA said that what he missed most during his almost one year mission in space was nature: "the green, the smell of the cool earth and the warm feeling of the sun on my face. "

Recommending that those who can get some fresh air, he also felt that there was nothing wrong with spending more time in front of the screens during confinement.

During his time aboard the ISS, between 2015 and 2016, the astronaut, for example, admitted having twice swallowed up the popular Game of Thrones series and frequently watched films at night with his colleagues.

Cosmonaut Sergeï Riazanski, two space missions under his belt, has become the face of a 10-week sporting challenge supported by Roskosmos. Its participants will have to broadcast videos of themselves doing physical exercises at home, like a spaceman on a mission.

© 2020 AFP