Should We Worry About Viruses From Space?

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Inevitably, I’ve seen a couple of conspiracy theorists spout that COVID-19 came from space (it didn’t).

But should we worry about viruses from space? In the earliest days of space travel, we really didn’t know. During the Apollo missions, we quarantined astronauts after landing because of concerns about “moon bugs.” Needless to say, the moon is confirmed lifeless. Astronauts still quarantine before their flights for two weeks because nobody, nobody wants to get a cold in space.

The Apollo astronauts spent 21 days in a modified Airstream trailer.

So, should we worry about space viruses. A recent article claimed that we should be careful with Martian sample return (Pro tip: We will, but it will be to keep Earth life from contaminating the samples).

Could We Catch a Space Virus?

Viruses, not being truly alive, are very hard to “kill” or inactivate. In fact, some astronauts have experienced subclinical reactivation of a virus they recently caught (meaning no symptoms), because zero G isn’t great for your immue system.

A virus from another planet, though? Let’s remind ourselves how viruses work.

A virus is essentially biological code. It is a strand of either RNA (COVID-19 is an RNA virus) or DNA encased…