The Mission NASA Doesn’t Want to Postpone

T-minus three, two, one, zero. As the rocket’s engines ignite, the mood inside the launch-control room will hover somewhere between anticipation and anxiety. Everyone’s neck will crane upward as they watch a ball of fire rise through the sky, carrying a couple of astronauts toward the edge of space. The scene will resemble every other astronaut launch from Cape Canaveral, except for one tiny detail: Everyone in the room might be wearing face masks and standing six feet apart.

As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the United States, SpaceX, on NASA’s behalf, is preparing to launch astronauts from the shores of Florida, a first in American spaceflight history. The mission, bound for the International Space Station, is currently scheduled for mid-to-late May.

In this moment, an astronaut launch might seem to be