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NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers tips on ‘how to isolate like an astronaut’

By
James Rogers, Fox News
Published April 30, 2020, 7:27 p.m. ET
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The three crew members of NASA's Apollo 11 lunar landing mission are greeted by their wives after their arrival at Ellington Air Force Base near Houston in Texas in a Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) earlier that day, 27th July 1969. From left to right, astronauts Neil A Armstrong, Edwin E 'Buzz' Aldrin Jr and Michael Collins and their wives (left to right) Pat Collins,
The three crew members of NASA's Apollo 11 lunar landing mission are greeted by their wives after their arrival at Ellington Air Force Base near Houston in Texas in a Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) earlier that day, 27th July 1969. (From left) Astronauts Neil A Armstrong, Edwin E 'Buzz' Aldrin Jr and Michael Collins and their wives.Getty Images
Portrait of NASA's Apollo 12 astronauts, from left, Alan Bean (1932 - 2018), Richard Gordon (1929 - 2017), and Charles 'Pete' Conrad Jr (1930 - 1999), as they look out of the window of the Mobile Quarantine Facility aboard the USS Hornet (CV-12) at the conclusion of their mission, November 24, 1969.
Portrait of NASA's Apollo 12 astronauts (from left) Alan Bean (1932 - 2018), Richard Gordon (1929 - 2017), and Charles 'Pete' Conrad Jr (1930 - 1999), as they look out of the window of the Mobile Quarantine Facility aboard the USS Hornet (CV-12) at the conclusion of their mission, November 24, 1969. Getty Images
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In this handout provided by NASA, Expedition 58 Flight Engineer David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), right, who is in quarantine, makes a heart with his hands for his son, at the conclusion of a press conference, December 2, 2018 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for Dec. 3 and will carry Saint-Jacques, Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Anne McClain of NASA into orbit to begin their six and a half month mission on the International Space Station.
Expedition 58 Flight Engineer David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), right, who is in quarantine, makes a heart with his hands for his son, at the conclusion of a press conference, December 2, 2018 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Getty Images
(From left) Expedition 49 prime crew members Shane Kimbrough of NASA, Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos, are seen with backup crew members Nikolai Tikhonov of Roscosmos, Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, and Mark Vande Hei of NASA, in quarantine behind glass during a crew press conference at the Cosmonaut Hotel on October 18, 2016 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, and Borisenko are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on October 19.
(From left) Expedition 49 prime crew members Shane Kimbrough of NASA, Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos, are seen with backup crew members Nikolai Tikhonov of Roscosmos, Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, and Mark Vande Hei of NASA, in quarantine behind glass during a crew press conference at the Cosmonaut Hotel on October 18, 2016 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, and Borisenko are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on October 19. NASA via Getty Images
USS Hornet. Wearing their baseball caps, the Apollo 11 astronauts look out from the mobile quarantine facility aboard the USS Hornet here, day after their successful splashdown in the Pacific. LTR: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
USS Hornet. Wearing their baseball caps, the Apollo 11 astronauts look out from the mobile quarantine facility aboard the USS Hornet here, day after their successful splashdown in the Pacific. (From left): Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.Bettmann Archive
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Amid the coronavirus lockdown, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex has published advice on “how to isolate like an astronaut.”

In a blog post, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex said that astronauts are experts on living and working in isolation.

Astronauts, the Visitor Complex explained, are typically held in isolation before they launch into space to prevent contraction and spread of illness. NASA cited the importance of protection against infection and maintaining normalcy as particularly relevant to the coronavirus lockdown.

A lot of attention is paid to the physical and psychological wellbeing of astronauts in space. “Astronauts are far from home, often living in tight quarters with only a few other people,” said the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. “They also have to adjust to non-traditional foods, new sleeping and bathing habits, and even the lack of a fresh breeze or greenery.”

Only one launch during the entire space shuttle program was delayed as a result of illness, according to the blog post. A launch of the space shuttle Atlantis in 1990 was delayed due to an illness that affected Crew Commander John Creighton. The shuttle eventually launched on Feb. 28 of that year.

With NASA eyeing future long-duration missions to Mars, scientists are researching the long-term effects of isolation.

“It has been noted that astronauts face similar psychological challenges as submariners,” said the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in the statement. “The longer they are exposed to extreme isolation, the more likely it may impact their well-being.

“Astronauts were not only isolated from possible sources of disease, but they were trained in how to detect symptoms and early signs of diseases,” the complex explained in its blog post. “Of course, not only did this keep the crew healthy, but it also helped prevent any delays in launch schedules.”

It’s estimated that the journey to Mars could take up to nine months.

Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino recently told Fox News about his experiences of both quarantine and isolation during his two trips to space on the space shuttle.

“We went into quarantine before our missions so that we wouldn’t get sick,” he said, explaining that he and his fellow astronauts spent about a week in quarantine before his spaceflights in 2002 and 2009.

Scott Kelly, the first American to spend 12 consecutive months in space, recently described his life in coronavirus lockdown to Fox News.

“If you asked me how many days I have been in quarantine for, I couldn’t tell you,” the former NASA astronaut said last week, acknowledging the similarities between the lockdown and his time in space. “This was my job, dealing with the situation and following the guidance – it’s very analogous to my mindset when I was in space.”

Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Center is currently closed amid the coronavirus lockdown.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 3.14 million coronavirus cases have been diagnosed worldwide, at least 1,015,289 of which are in the U.S. The disease has accounted for at least 218,727 deaths around the world, including at least 58,355 people in the U.S.