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Although orbiting astronauts are safely isolated on the International Space Station, the coronavirus has always had an impact on spaceflight, according to a conversation between NASA astronauts and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
NASA astronauts Kate rubins and Shannon walker, both living on the space station, spoke with Dr. Inger Damon, director of the high-risk pathogens and pathology division at the CDC, on February 10.
Like many of us who self-isolate at home, Walker and the other astronauts who joined Rubins on the space station in November 2020 did all they could to avoid catching COVID-19. “We didn’t want to bring anything to the space station,” she told Damon.
Walker and the three astronauts on his crew trained remotely when possible, but couldn’t avoid being close to each other. When training for a mission, the crew should be confined to the confined spaces of the spacecraft – in this case, SpaceX Crew Dragon spatialship. To stay as safe as possible, astronauts wore masks when they needed to be close to each other and kept their distance when possible. To reduce the chances of bringing COVID-19 into space, Walker, his colleagues quarantined with their families for three weeks before the launch.
Rubins had already been aboard the station for about a month before the Crew Dragon team arrived, but followed a similar procedure before his own launch; because even mild cold is a big problem in space, quarantines are a long-standing pre-flight ritual for astronauts.
But the coronavirus has had an impact on the work of astronauts, Rubins said, as research teams in the field have had to shift primarily to remote work, like many of us on Earth. There has also been some impact on ground-to-space operations, she said, but astronauts are in awe of how well everything works despite a pandemic on the ground.
“It was amazing to see the NASA teams always having a launch schedule,” said Rubins. Despite the changing working conditions on Earth, NASA has been able to cargo vehicles sent to the space station to resupply the astronauts and bring them experiments, she said. The only hiccups mentioned by the astronauts was a delay in their Thanksgiving meal.
Walker said it sent her on a creative kitchen project, resulting in deconstructed crab cakes made from what the crew had on board. (Judging by Rubins’ big smile and thumbs up, they were delicious.)
A change the pandemic has initiated for those aboard the space station, and those who have been there before, is a new frequently asked question: How do you deal with social isolation? For 20 years, astronauts have spent time on the space station, isolated from family and friends for months, sometimes a year, at a time. Now many of us on Earth have some idea of what this looks like and we want their advice.
“The important thing is to try to stay in touch with friends and family,” Walker said. She, Rubins, and other space station astronauts make phone calls home whenever they can, make video calls, and see the crew members as their “space family.” Being able to spend time together is essential, Walker said.
Overall, COVID-19 appears to have impacted space as well as Earth, with changing work routines and extra precautions. There are also parallels between the work done by the CDC on Earth and the work done by Rubins on the space station. Rubins holds degrees in biochemistry, microbiology and immunology.
She told the CDC about a project to create a complete microbial map of the space station, taking 1,000 swabs into space. “Everyone walks by and says, ‘Kate, are you still wiping?’” She joked. The goal is to see what microbes exist on the space station and how they might change their behavior in space relative to Earth.
“I think it’s incredibly interesting to see what it looks like in a completely man-made environment,” she said. “We have no dirt, nothing you would see in the natural world.” It will be enlightening to see how the microbes adapt to the completely man-made environment of the space station, she said.
Follow Kasandra Brabaw on Twitter @KassieBrabaw. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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