Coronavirus forces detour for homecoming astronauts


FILE PHOTO: International Space Station (ISS) crew member Andrew Morgan of NASA reacts during a spacesuit check at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, July 20, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo

ALMATY (Reuters) - NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir will take an unusual - and more exhausting - route home after safely landing in the Kazakh steppe on Friday, a Russian healthcare official said, because of lockdowns caused by the novel coronavirus.

A capsule carrying Morgan, Meir and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka touched down southeast of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan at 1117 local time, as scheduled, after nine months on the International Space Station.

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