La pandemia da Coronavirus ha bloccato quasi tutte le attività sulla terra ma non ha impedito a tre astronauti, giovedì, di partire per la Stazione Spaziale Internazionale (ISS).
L'americano Chris Cassidy e i russi Anatoli Ivanichine e Ivan Vagner hanno cominciato la loro missione partendo dal cosmodromo russo a Baikonur, in Kazakistan, e dovrebbero raggiungere la stazione orbitale alle 14.15 GMT dopo un volo di circa sei ore. Non vi sono stati i rituali tradizionali prima del lancio in orbita proprio a motivo del possibile contagio da virus, quindi niente pubblico, familiari e giornalisti.
"La Soyuz MS-16 è stata lanciata con successo in orbita", ha dichiarato l'agenzia spaziale russa Roskosmos su Twitter. Poco prima di lanciarsi in orbita, l'equipaggio ha dichiarato di "sentirsi bene" secondo la televisione della Nasa, che ha trasmesso il lancio. Si prevede che la missione durerà 196 giorni, con rientro programmato per il 22 ottobre sempre nelle steppe del Kazakistan.
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