Weekly Current Affairs: April week-2 - Space station crew to blast off despite virus-hit build up

A three-man crew is set to travel to the International Space Station, leaving behind a planet overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic.

A three-man crew is set to travel to the International Space Station, leaving behind a planet overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic.
- Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of Russia's Roscosmos space agency and NASA's Chris Cassidy will blast off from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where COVID-19 has caused changes to pre-launch protocol.
Astronauts routinely go into quarantine ahead of space missions and give a final press conference at Baikonur from behind a glass wall to protect them from infection.
The ISS typically carries up to six people at a time and has a livable space of 388 cubic metres (13,700 cubic feet) -- larger than a six-bedroom house according to NASA.
The International Space Station—a rare example of cooperation between Russia and the West– has been orbiting Earth at about 28,000 kilometres per hour (17,000 miles per hour) since 1998.