Space, all ready for Samantha’s launch

There is expectation for the second mission of the Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti who, after the record-breaking mission of 2014-2015, is preparing to return to the International Space Station with the Minerva mission which will also have 6 all-Italian experiments. Samantha Cristoforetti will also be the first ‘space’ TikToker. The travel agenda is aimed at next Thursday 21 April but the launch window can also expand until Saturday 23 because Samantha, this time, will return to the ISS aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, a very different shuttle and more subject to possible weather changes compared to the Soyuz with which he flew the first time. Born in 1977, engineer and aviator, our astronaut was the first Italian woman in the crews of the European Space Agency and during her first mission she reached the European record and the female record for staying in space in a single flight with 199 days . Samantha is preparing to start from Launch Complex 39A of the Kennedy Space Center and, although the geopolitical scenario marks a distance with Russia due to the war unleashed in Ukraine, Cristoforetti, in the last connection with the press, stressed that “the work of the International Space Station continues, must continue “and that” the ISS must remain a symbol of peaceful cooperation “. Speaking in connection with the headquarters of the Italian Space Agency, Samantha reiterated that the “spirit” among the astronauts aboard the ISS “is one of friendship and the will to work together”. “We are friends with our American and Russian colleagues and we have the responsibility to carry out a mission that has many researchers behind it, people who have invested years and years of work”. “Ours is a joint spirit, that of carrying on the work of the ISS which has been and must continue to be a symbol of peaceful cooperation” said the Italian astronaut, reassuring her safety and that of the entire crew. First woman in our country to fly on the International Space Station, Samantha Cristoforetti – a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Munich and another in Aeronautical Sciences from the Federico II of Naples – holds the role of specialist of mission in the SpaceX Crew-4 flight. Due to the reduction in the duration of the mission, Cristoforetti no longer assumes command of the International Space Station but is leader of the American orbital segment (Usos). The Minerva mission is dedicated to wisdom and includes numerous experiments including 6 Italians. In almost 5 months of activity on the International Space Station, Samantha Cristoforetti will deal with experiments related to research for humans, biology and biotechnology, the development and demonstration of new technologies, physical sciences. With the Italian experiment Ovospace lei Samatha she will study the effects of microgravity on the female reproductive system while with the Evoo experiment she will verify the effects of microgravity on Italian extra virgin olive oil. In total Samantha will participate in about forty experiments including the Ice-Ga Italian Combustion Experiment for Green Air. ASI “strongly wanted the presence of the Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti in the Minerva mission and Samantha’s participation also represents a driver for Italian space activities” underlined the president of the Italian Space Agency, Giorgio Saccoccia, commenting the Minerva mission. The ISS has “a very high symbolic value of international collaboration” underlined the number one of the ASI by participating in the presentation of the mission at the headquarters of the Agency. “All the messages and indications that we are having at the level of ESA and NASA is that activities are continuing absolutely not conditioned by the geopolitical situation,” said Saccoccia. “We have seen that important operations on the ISS have been carried out, we have seen astronauts of all nationalities coming and going from the Station”, the president of ASI also observed. Also for the Minister of Technological Innovation and Digital Transition with responsibility for Space, Vittorio Colao, the Minerva mission in which the Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is about to participate, “is a very important mission”. As a government, he recalled in Colao speaking with journalists, “we have put space back at the center of the country’s interest, at the center in the broad sense of Italian strategic policies, not only on the industrial level, but in support of exploration, of space economy, of the in orbit economy which will be increasingly important “, so much so that the Italian budget for space activities” has been doubled from 2 to 4 billion euros with the PNRR “by the government. An increase in funds that, Colao has motivated with “three whys: the first is of an industrial nature because Italy has always had a great heritage and we wanted to reinforce it, then because we believe that space can push on Stem materials and on the training of young”. Finally, there is “a strategic reason: the European plan to which we wanted to contribute”, said Minister Colao who wished our astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti “every success in this mission”. (by Andreana d’Aquino)