More than 200 days since they each embarked on their trip to space, things are different. All three astronauts landed Friday morning near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
“Home safe and sound,” NASA said in a tweet Friday morning. “Today’s landing wraps up a 205-day mission for both @Astro_Jessica and Oleg Skripochka and a 272-day mission for @AstroDrewMorgan. Welcome home!”
It’s an almost ironic parallel.
“We can watch news up here, and we’ve been talking to friends and families to try to paint a picture,” Morgan said. “But from up here, it’s hard to understand what has transpired and how life will be different when we return.”
Morgan, was selected by NASA as an astronaut in 2013 and also serves as an emergency physician with the US Army.
“As an emergency physician, I know what it’s like to be in a hospital or on the front lines of a field hospital,” he said. “I’m very proud to be part of that profession, but at the same time, I feel guilt that I am as separated from it as I could be right now.”
But with a deadly virus now on the loose, NASA says the post-landing procedures will be more extensive.
“NASA will closely adhere to the CDC’s recommendations on infection control for the coronavirus as Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir return to Earth and begin their post-flight medical testing and re-adaptation period,” Courtney Beasley, a spokesperson at NASA’s Johnson Space Center previously said.
“This includes cleaning of surfaces, social distancing, emphasizing hand hygiene, encouraging NASA team members who are sick to stay home and limiting contact with the crew members.”
CNN’s Ashley Strickland contributed to this report.
Source : Nbcnewyork