A three-person crew went to the International Space Station on a six-month mission, without farewell or a media celebration, saying: "We leave a planet burdened with the emerging (Corona) virus."
Anatoly Evanition and Evan Wagner of the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos), and Chris Cassidy of the American Space Agency (NASA) launched yesterday from the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan.
Under normal circumstances, the departing crew would have faced questions from a large group of journalists before saying goodbye to family and friends.
But the press conference on the mission was held without anyone, due to the travel restrictions imposed by the virus, and the crew responded to questions that the journalists sent by email.
"Instead of talking to only some cameras, we would have been talking to some people," said Cassidy, who is preparing for his third time in space. Cassidy, 50, admitted that the crew were "affected" by the fact that their families were unable to come to Baikonur to see them off before they set out on the International Space Station. He added, "But we understand that the whole world is affected by the crisis itself."
Astronauts are usually subject to quarantine prior to space flight, and they hold a conference in Baikonur from behind a glass panel, to protect them from any possible disease.
“We leave a planet burdened with the emerging corona virus.”