NASA begs spectators for May 27 astronaut launch: Please stay home!

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

NASA begs spectators for astronaut launch: Please stay home!

By MARCIA DUNN
May 1, 2020

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA and SpaceX on Friday urged spectators to stay home for the first home launch of astronauts in nearly a decade because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Top officials warned the public against traveling to Florida for the May 27 launch of two NASA astronauts aboard a SpaceX rocket to the International Space Station.

It will be the first launch of astronauts from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in nine years — ever since the last space shuttle flight in 2011. It also will be the first attempt by a private company to fly astronauts to orbit.

For space space shuttle launches, hundreds of thousands of spectators would descend on Kennedy Space Center and nearby beaches, said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/e8905cccf3b6df82855356763d5adc98

[CaptainTruth]

1. I was going to try & watch along 401, by the air force station...

...but given this darn virus I'll watch from the back yard, like all the other launches.

[GriffenRamsey]

2. I took my son to one of the last shuttle launches when he was 4.

He was supposed to drive us down to Florida for this. It was going to be our first road trip since he could drive.