Before going to space, astronauts
go through a quarantine period.
But what does that mean?
The quarantine period is a period of time
that is just before a launch
where we isolate the crew
so that we make sure they’re
not catching any infectious diseases.
We want to make sure they’re not sick
before they go into their flight,
because they will be
in a closed environment
for a certain period of time.
And viruses
can spread easily amongst the crew.
So we put them in quarantine,
just like we were during COVID times,
so that they don’t get sick.
We choose to isolate the crew for 14 days
before a launch
because most infectious diseases
take 10 to 14 days
to be transferred
from one person to another.
Do they need to re-enter quarantine
if the launch is delayed?
Well, that depends how long the delay is.
If it’s a one or two or three-day delay,
and if the crew is already on the rocket
and they have come back to the quarantine facility, they simply continue the quarantine.
However, if the launch is delayed
by, let’s say, several weeks
or a month or more,
then they get out of quarantine.
But we have to get back into quarantine
two weeks before the next launch attempt.
Has any astronaut ever gotten sick soon after launch, despite the quarantine?
It has happened, but it’s quite rare.
Luckily, the few times it has happened before,
it was due to respiratory viruses
that were not very severe.
So the crew did well, and it didn’t affect the mission.
Does anyone else go into quarantine
with the astronauts?
Usually medical support personnel,
crew support personnel, technicians
who need to work closely with the crew,
they enter quarantine with them
so that they don’t get sick either.
The quarantine takes place in the
astronaut’s home if they elect to do that.
There’s a quarantine facility
at the Johnson Space Center
where they start
quarantine two weeks before
and then a week before launch,
they move to the Kennedy Space Center
astronaut crew facilities there.
What do they do during that period?
They continue training, but mostly
they try to rest, to recover
from all the intense training
they have done over
the last couple of years.
They need to be well rested
because the mission will be very busy.
They go through their last checklist,
and they have briefings
with the flight directors,
and they have their last medical test
before they launch.
And they also spend some time
with their families.
What else is done to prevent the crew
from falling ill?
We test them when we enter quarantine
and just before launch.
But of course,
the most important thing that they do
to help them out is not getting any,
infectious disease, is get vaccinations
against the flu
and against COVID, for example.
Those are things we take care of as well,
not only the crew,
but also all the support personnel
getting into the quarantine.
What happens if a crewmember falls ill
just before launch?
It depends what illness it is.
If it’s something that is not very severe,
it doesn’t really affect the launch.
If it’s something more severe, the flight
directors and the managers may elect
to delay the launch or replace the crew,
which happens extremely rarely.