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FEARS over coronavirus reaching the International Space Station have emerged after a senior Russian official present at last week’s launch to the space lab has tested positive.

Evgeniy Mikrin flew from Moscow to the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan alongside the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, in a Russian government plane.

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11 Evgeniy Mikrin flew from Moscow to the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan last week alongside the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin (circled), in a Russian government plane. Pictured is Rogozin interacting with astronauts ahead of the launch. Mikrin has since tested positive for coronavirus

Rogozin - the Kremlin's most senior space official - was then seen close to the two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut as he supervised the launch.

Mikrin, 64, deputy head of Energia Rocket and Space Corportation, has now tested positive for Covid-19 and is in isolation.

Mikrin was seen sitting next to Rogozin when both men were separated by glass from the spacemen shortly before they blasted to orbit on 9 April.

But Rogozin - having had close contact with Mikrin - was subsequently observed close to the cosmonauts.

11 Rogozin - the Kremlin's most senior space official - was seen close to the two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut as he supervised the launch Credit: Roscosmos

11 Mikrin, 64, deputy head of Energia Rocket and Space Corportation, has now tested positive for Covid-19 and is in isolation. Pictures do not show Mikrin close to the crew Credit: Social Media

Pictures show Roigozin, 56, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, wearing a mask - and also without one.

At the formal farewell, Rogozin stood around six feet from the three spacemen.

He was the furtherest from the camera at the ceremony.

Nasa astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner did not have their faces covered.

Pictures do not show Mikrin close to the crew.

11 Two Russian cosmonauts and one Nasa astronaut interacted as part of the launch ceremony Credit: Roscosmos

11 The crew blasted off to the ISS last week aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket Credit: Roscosmos

11 The space station orbits 250 miles above Earth's surface Credit: Handout - Getty

Cassidy said before the Soyuz MS-16 launch that the crew had been in "a very strict quarantine" for the month before the launch and were in good health. "We all feel fantastic," he added.

The crew’s commander Ivanishin said: "We've been completely isolated at this final stage of training.”

Yet the pictures of the moments before launch show they were sent off by a group - including Rogozin - who did not adhere to social distancing.

Newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets said of Mikrin:“He was on the same plane with the head of the state space corporation Dmitry Rogozin who was later talking directly to cosmonauts.

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What is the ISS? Here's what you need to know about the International Space Station... The International Space Station, often abbreviated to ISS, is a large space craft that orbits Earth and houses astronauts who go up there to complete scientific missions

Many countries worked together to build it and they work together to use it

It is made up of many pieces, which astronauts had to send up individually on rockets and put together from 1998 to 2000

Ever since the year 2000, people have lived on the ISS

Nasa uses the ISS to learn about living and working in space

It is approximately 250 miles above Earth and orbits around the planet just like a satellite

Living inside the ISS is said to be like living inside a big house with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gym, lots of science labs and a big bay window for viewing Earth

11 The ISS comes equipped with five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a gym – plus plenty of science labs Credit: NASA

“It is not clear where exactly he could have got infected with coronavirus.”

Russia said extraordinary measures had been taken to avoid coronavirus getting to the space station with the pandemic.

Bespectacled Mikrin - Energias’ deputy head and chief designer who accompanied Rogozin on his plane for the three hour flight at his request - took two tests for coronavirus and both were positive following the launch.

He is among 30 Russian space personnel with Covid-19.

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A coronavirus case has also now been confirmed at Star City, near Moscow, where the cosmonauts prepared for their launch.

Mikrin is in self-isolation at home but has no clinical symptoms of the disease, a space source told TASS.

Rogozin has not believed to have tested positive.

A Nasa spokesperson told The Sun: "The astronaut crew was placed in strict quarantine with their medical teams weeks before the launch.

"During this time of social distancing, personal protective equipment and health monitoring procedures were followed to protect the crew from any infectious disease.

"It is standard Nasa practice, as it is with all our international partners, to protect astronauts’ health prior to launch and monitor them closely when they first arrive at the International Space Station."

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Last year, Nasa engineer Christina Koch took a stunning snap of the transition from day to night from the ISS.

A Nasa timelapse also revealed an astronaut's view as the ISS soars over Earth.

And Nasa plans to send "living human organs" on micro-chips to the ISS as part of a series of medical tests.

Do you think you'll ever get to travel into space? Let us know in the comments!

Nasa reveals 'space housing' where first TOURISTS on board ISS will eat, sleep and live

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