CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA and SpaceX are urging everyone to stay home for the first home launch of astronauts in nearly a decade because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Top officials warned the public Friday against traveling to Florida for this month's launch of two NASA astronauts aboard a SpaceX rocket.

It will be the first launch of astronauts from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in nine years, and the first anywhere by a private company.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says it saddens him to keep people away, but the priority is to keep everyone safe.

He said hundreds of thousands of people used to descend on the area to watch space shuttle launches.