JAKARTA - The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has not discouraged Space X from launching its rocket into space. The Falcon 9 rocket is also planned to continue flying in May.
Launching from The Verge, Elon Musk's startup continues to coordinate with the NASA Space Agency for the launch of the Falcon-9 rocket. The rocket carried two astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the space base (ISS).
"NASA is proactively monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. The agency will continue to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the agency's chief health and medical personnel to keep communicating any updates that may affect mission planning at launch," NASA said. in its official statement.
Successful deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/GZq8sUQ2TP
- SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 18, 2020
In fact, it took six years for SpaceX to build the spacecraft and rockets that will be flown to the Space Station (ISS). However, the plan became a controversy as COVID-19 grew rapidly in the US.
Even if the virus is blocked, this mission will become history for SpaceX. Because this is the first time Elon Musk's company has sent humans commercially into space.
NASA also continues to ensure that the astronauts are in excellent condition when they fly. Even long before the coronavirus pandemic occurred, NASA had all its astronauts quarantined before carrying out missions and made sure they would not carry unwanted diseases into space.
NASA said the launch of the Demo-2 mission would be scheduled for mid-to-late May aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While those dates are subject to change, the fact that NASA initiated a media accreditation process indicates a certain level of confidence in that time frame.
Previously, SpaceX also launched two space rocket missions, to test its new parachute and navigation system that will be used on the Falcon-9. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said his rocket flight test had been successful and was ready to return to air this year.
"SpaceX has conducted a series of tests and tests for the latest parachute system. We have a series of confidence in the great success of this mission," said Vice president of aviation reliability SpaceX, Hans Koenigsmann.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/eToRAbYW1q
- SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 18, 2020
Later astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will fly the Dragon Crew shuttle to the ISS. There they will make observations before returning to Earth.
The plan, the Falcon 9 rocket will be launched at Cape Canaveral, Florida. But until now there has been no official NASA statement regarding the launch, because if many residents watched the launch in the midst of a pandemic, the government's policy regarding social distance would certainly have a bad impact.
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