March 16, 2020- Most of NASA’s space history museums and visitor centers situated across the United States of America have since temporarily shut as a public health preventive measure. It supports the attempt to contain the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic spread.
The preventive measure has also delayed plans for celebrating the 50th Apollo 13 mission anniversary of NASA in the month of April.
The privately operated visitor center of NASA’s Florida spaceport declared that out of extreme caution abundance and in the unprecedented interest of their crewmembers and guests, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex would momentarily shut as of the month of March 16, 2020, until further communication. He added that visitors would not enter into visitor complex grounds during the closure.
The whole facility will be sanitized and cleaned before re-opening, after being deemed safe for the citizens to return.
A statement from the complex read that as usual, the health and safety of their workforce and guests is the most severe main concern for Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The statement added that their primary goal is to mitigate the spread of the disease.
Space Center Houston, which is the visitor center for Johnson Space Center of NASA located in Texas, shut its doors in the course of March 27, with ideas of reassessing in the forthcoming weeks. NASA lastly curtailed travels of the Mission Control Center and astronaut training facilities of Johnson.
The United States of America Space & Rocket Center, located in Huntsville, Alabama, which acts as the visitor center for Marshall Space Flight Center of NASA, shut its museum on April 3. Space Camp, also situated at the center remained open for the students of the United States of America whose attendance was in the schedule.
Other closures took effect for the visitor centers helping Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA located in Maryland, Stennis Space Center situated in Mississippi, Glenn Research Center in Ohio, and Wallops Flight Facility located in Virginia. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Public tours have also postponed until further communications.
On Saturday, the Smithsonian Institution shut all its museums, as well as the National Air and Space Museum situated in Washington, DC, and its Steven F.Udvar-Hazy Center annex in Virginia.
The Smithsonian confirmed on its official website that they are closely supervising the situation of Coronavirus and maintaining communication with the area health officials and the Disease Control Centers.
