Astronauts have one important piece of advice for the millions of people holed up in apartments during the coronavirus pandemic: make contact.

“It’s not a time to forget about human relations," said Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut. “You really need to make a conscious effort not to fall into social laziness. It's a time for social distancing, but we have to be close in spirit."

Cristoforetti is one of the European Space Agency's team of astronauts and has already been on a 200-day mission to the International Space Station, with plans to go back later this decade. So, she knows a thing or two about being in a cramped space alone, or with the same few people, for months on end.

After serving as a pilot in the Italian air force, Cristoforetti's space training took her on 10-day deep sea dives and treks into the wilderness in Alaska in preparation for the ISS, a joint initiative between the space agencies of the U.S., Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe in orbit 400 kilometers above the surface of the planet.

Her first lesson for those in isolation is that being physically apart shouldn't mean friendships float away. Space agencies have teams of support staff on hand to make sure astronauts remain tethered to their family back on Earth. Even on the space station, satellite telecommunication makes it possible to phone home, so lockdown should pose no barrier to keeping in touch with friends and vulnerable family, said Cristoforetti, via Skype from her home in Cologne, where ESA trains its astronauts.

"Nobody chose what's happening now, [but] we did choose to go to the space station” — Samantha Cristoforetti, Italian astronaut

Her second lesson for those cooped up at home is to keep the jokes coming. "In many ways, big families in cramped apartments are more challenging than being on the space station,” she said. “Humor helps a lot, if you’re able to joke about things."

On the ISS, astronauts convene occasional feedback sessions in which they can air grievances, but what might work for seasoned, highly trained space explorers might not work with family members during a global health crisis, Cristoforetti concedes. “The situation on the space station is a little bit different than what people are facing right now,” she said. "Nobody chose what's happening now, [but] we did choose to the go to the space station.”

The ISS has a habitable area of some 388 cubic meters in total. Each of the astronauts has an area roughly the size of a phone booth in which they sleep and can keep personal items. But "the space station ... is quite big, so you can always find a place to retreat," said Cristoforetti. Even in small shared apartments, she urges people to find a corner of their own.

Cristoforetti is not the only astronaut with advice for those under lockdown. In an article for the New York Times, retired NASA spaceman Scott Kelly stressed the need for structure in daily life, a regular bedtime and knowing how to separate work from leisure time in the same environment. Cristoforetti's colleagues at ESA, France's Thomas Pesquet and Britain's Tim Peake have made their own recommendations for self-isolation too.

NASA published a list of five "expeditionary behaviors" astronauts use to keep on top of things. That includes personal hygiene, something astronauts have to be vigilant about. Those about to make the trip into space will typically spend two weeks in quarantine ahead of launch to avoid unwittingly carrying a virus to the ISS.

"There's a lot attention about disinfecting everything that goes to the station, be it people or cargo," Cristoforetti said. "After I took my last shower on launch date, I had to disinfect all my body with disinfectant wipes ... to make sure you're not bringing up a lot of bugs."