Record-breaker spent almost 200 days in space
Samantha Cristoforetti in full spacesuit for her official ESA portrait |
A captain in the Italian Air Force, in which she is a pilot
and engineer, Cristoforetti holds the world record for the longest space flight
by a woman, which she set as a crew member on the European Space Agency’s Futura
mission to the International Space Station in 2014.
Cristoforetti and her two fellow astronauts, the Russian
Anton Shkaplerov and the American Terry Virts, left Kazakhstan in a Soyuz
spacecraft on November 23, 2014 and returned on June 11, 2015, having spent 199
days and 16 hours in space – four days longer than the previous record for a
female astronaut, held by the American NASA astronaut Sunita Williams.
The mission was supposed to have ended a month earlier but
had to be extended after a Russian supply freighter failed to reach the ISS. The
extra time also allowed Cristoforetti to set a record for the longest time in
space by a European astronaut of either gender.
While Williams was hailed as the first person to complete a
marathon in space when she ran 26 miles and 385 yards on the ISS’s on-board
treadmill at the same time as the 2007 Boston Marathon was taking place on
earth, Cristoforetti can proudly claim to be the first person to have brewed an
espresso coffee in space using a machine sent to the crew as a gift.
Cristoforetti celebrated her 38th birthday in space with crewmates Anton Shkaplerov (left) and Terry Virts |
Her interest in space began in childhood and was cemented at
the age of 18, when she participated in a United States foreign exchange
programme and attended Space Camp.
After going to college in Bolzano and Trento, she graduated
from the Technical University of Munich with a degree in mechanical engineering.
She attended a French space institute –
the École nationale supérieure de l'aéronautique et de l'espace in Toulouse –
and the Mendeleev Russian University of Chemistry and Technology in Moscow.
Returning to Italy and pursuing her career with the Italian
Air Force, she graduated in aeronautics sciences at the Accademia Aeronautica
in Pozzuoli, near Naples, and became one of the first Italian women to be a
lieutenant and fighter pilot, since when she has also completed NATO flight
training.
Cristoforetti's photographs included this amazing view of the Italian peninsula at night |
The mission involved maintenance work on the Space Station
as well as almost continuous programme of scientific experiments. Cristoforetti did not take part in any space
walks but was responsible for the safety of her two colleagues while they were
outside the ship. Communications were
never a problem as she speaks five languages – Italian, German, English,
Russian and French.
Cristoforetti, in the 'cupola' of the Space Station, savours the first espresso brewed in space |
A month after returning to earth, Cristoforetti was awarded
the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by Sergio Mattarella, the Italian
president. The Order of Merit is the senior order of knighthood, the highest
ranking honour of the republic.
The town of Malè can be found on a plateau in the Val di
Sole valley, sitting alongside the valley’s main river, the Noce. The administrative and cultural centre of the
valley, Malè has a civic museum, and a parish church dating back to the 16th
century and an ancient sawmill and smithy, Marinelli del Pondasio, a rare
preserved example of a hydraulic smithy. Nearby is the Stelvio National Park
the Adamello Brenta Nature Park. Malè is a centre for alpine sports, including
hiking, climbing and rafting during the summer, and is a short distance from
the ski areas of Marilleva-Folgarida and Madonna di Campiglio.
The Accademia Aeronautica, the academy of the Italian Air
Force, can be found at a purpose-built facility on a hill overlooking the port
town of Pozzuoli, on the northern shore of the Bay of Naples, having previously
been housed in the grand surroundings of the Royal Palace in Caserta, just to
the north of Naples, and then on the island of Nisida, near the Marechiaro
district of Naples, which is linked to the mainland by a causeway.
Aviation pioneer Enea Bossi and the first human-powered flight
How Camillo Castiglioni recognised the potential of aeroplanes
The ground-breaking academic who paved way for women in science
1925: The birth of the man who invented Nutella spread
More reading:
Aviation pioneer Enea Bossi and the first human-powered flight
How Camillo Castiglioni recognised the potential of aeroplanes
The ground-breaking academic who paved way for women in science
Also on this day:
1925: The birth of the man who invented Nutella spread
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