2012: Shuttle Flyover Flash Mobs. 2020: Social Distancing At Home
Space Shuttle Discovery: Old Friend, New Neighbor, Earlier post, 17 April 2012
“As I sat in my home office in Reston, a few miles from Dulles, and watched the flyover on TV, it became clear that people were dropping what they were doing to go outside to catch a glimpse. Discovery arrived early in DC airspace so it just kept circling around and around, thus increasing the viral buzz online and on TV. Soon, I heard reports of hundreds of cars pulled over on local freeways and people standing on car roofs. So, I hopped into my car and drove toward Dulles airport. Within minutes I started to see cars pulled over for no reason. As soon as I got onto the airport itself the roads were lined thick on either side with cars – and more were parking every second. People had walked up onto bridges where you never see pedestrians. Others congregated in the grassy regions inside of entrance and exit ramps. Again, these are places you simply never see people – much less crowds. This was an immense flash mob that appeared so fast that the police did not have time to respond. No one was directing traffic yet everyone seemed to be cool about being considerate and safe.”
This post got me to thinking. Whenever there is an important space launch visitors show up in large numbers to see it. The SpaceX launch next month of astronauts flying the Dragon2 will definitely fall into that category and would normally generate crowds to see it. Do you know if NASA, SpaceX and local authorities have any plans to discourage them from doing so? Seems there should be. Even if, (a big IF) the lockdowns are relaxed there should be a big campaign to get folks to stay home and watch on TV as tens of thousands of individuals from all over America watching the launch in person would create ideal conditions for spreading the virus.
I love to see rockets launch, and have seen several, but the Dragon2 launch is one I will skip in the name of community safety.
I’ll be careful, but I’m going.
It is my understanding (I do not have solid facts) that they will discourage public gatherings on the causeways and elsewhere. But Florida’s governor does not seem to care about this stuff so who knows.