NASA suspends work on manned Moon mission due to coronavirus outbreak

National Aeronautics ncy (NASA) on March 19 anunced that it is suspending work on building and testing rocket for its next manned mission to Moon. decision was taken in wake of coronavirus outbreak in United States and rest of country. 

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NASA in a release said, "NASA leadership is determined to make health and safety of its workforce its top priority as we navigate coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. To that end, ncy’s Michoud Assembly Facility and Stennis Center are moving to St 4 of NASA Response Framework, effective Friday, March 20."

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NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said, " change at Stennis was made due to rising number of COVID-19 cases in community around center, number of self-isolation cases within our workforce re, and one confirmed case among our Stennis team.  While re are confirmed cases at Michoud, facility is moving to St 4 due to rising number of COVID-19 cases in local area, in accordance with local and federal guidelines."

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Coronavirus outbreak

United States has so far recorded 14,354 cases of coronavirus, of which 565 cases came in last 24 hours. According to data acquired by worldometer, 125 patients in country have recovered fully. data shows, United States has logged in 217 deaths since virus first broke out in December last year. total number of active cases in country is above 14,000 of which 64 patients remain under critical condition. 

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COVID-19 has claimed more than 10,000 lives across world and has infected nearly 2,45,000 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. China is most affected country in world as experts believe that virus originated from a seafood market in Wuhan city, epicentre of disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally. Italy, Iran and Spain are most affected countries outside mainland China, where, as of March 17 combined death toll stands at 5,520. Italy has w surpassed China to record most number of deaths in world due to virus outbreak.