Elon Musk could have Covid-19, questioning SpaceX’s plan to launch astronauts this weekend

by



[ad_1]

Musk posted a brief series of tweets overnight, stating that he has had “mild sniffles,” a “cough” and a “slight fever” the past few days. He added that he expects to get the results of a PCR test – which are known to be more accurate than the type of rapid test Musk said he performed – within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Musk’s tweets echoed across the country at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where four astronauts prepare to travel into space aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on Saturday.

NASA chief Jim Bridenstine, who was scheduled to hold a routine press conference on Friday morning, said that according to NASA policies, Musk should be in quarantine and SpaceX should attempt to determine who might have come in contact with Musk. But it was not yet clear whether Saturday’s mission will be affected by the news.

“This news just came out ahead of this press conference,” Bridenstine said, adding that he last spoke with Musk two days ago. “So with regard to any contact with the [astronaut] crew, I’m not aware of it. This contact tracing should be underway now. “

When asked if the uncertainty surrounding Musk’s diagnosis could delay the SpaceX mission, Bridenstine replied, “If there are any adjustments to be made, we will make them.”

SpaceX-NASA launch: what to know before Saturday's Crew Dragon astronaut mission

It is not clear if SpaceX has already started contact tracing efforts. The company did not respond to CNN Business’s requests for comment, and SpaceX also did not respond to CNN Business’s email or phone requests in about six months.

Astronauts who are scheduled to fly on Saturday are unlikely to be in danger, Bridenstine added. Even before the pandemic, NASA said astronauts were following pre-flight quarantine rules to ensure they were not carrying disease into space, where viruses and bacteria could spread rapidly among members. crew packed in a spaceship. NASA has also implemented more stringent measures in response to Covid-19, but the astronauts have remained with their family members and will need to be near some NASA and SpaceX employees on launch day.

But it’s also unclear how a positive diagnosis for Musk could impact the ground crews needed to oversee the weekend launch. Musk is frequently found at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, which also houses SpaceX’s Mission Control Center. It is unclear when Musk last had contact with key SpaceX or NASA personnel who will have to report to work this weekend.

Why Musk’s tests may have been wrong

Musk said on Twitter that the four tests he took on Thursday were rapid tests, or “antigen tests,” performed by the same nurse at the same facility. He alleged in his late-night tweets that something “extremely wrong” was happening, echoing months of previous tweets in which Musk had expressed doubts about the threat of Covid-19. He also previously shared a YouTube video which was later deleted for containing incorrect information about the virus.
In a recent interview with reporter Kara Swisher, Musk doubled down on his skepticism, saying he would not take a Covid-19 vaccine when it became available and insisted that home orders intended to thwart the spread of the virus. viruses did more harm than good.
In fact, healthcare professionals are well aware that rapid antigenic testing can be inaccurate and generate false negative or, more rarely, false positive results.
PCR tests, on the other hand, can take a day or more to return results, but they are much more accurate.
NASA assigns four astronauts to SpaceX mission scheduled for 2021
This is because PCR tests look for signs of the genetic material of the Covid-19 virus, while antigen tests look for one of the viral proteins or a small trace of the presence of the virus. And although both types of tests rely on a nasal swab, PCR testing requires complicated specialist laboratories and trained technicians to conduct. That’s why, in the early days of the pandemic, PCR testing was severely overdue, sometimes taking more than a week to return results. Antigen testing was to provide a faster – albeit less precise – picture of how the new coronavirus was spreading across the United States.

According to Musk’s tweets, he expects to receive the results of his PCR test on Friday evening. He also noted that he is currently not showing symptoms, although he “has taken NyQuil”.

Two NASA spokespersons declined to comment on the status of the SpaceX mission beyond what Bridenstine told reporters. However, officials at SpaceX and NASA in Florida are expected to hold another routine press conference this afternoon to share updates on the checks they perform on the SpaceX rocket and spacecraft.

[ad_2]

Source link