an Italian woman astronaut...
While learning about life in space the pupils of our classrooms watched many short films from ESA and youtube which described to us life on ISS. Amongst the many astronauts who showed us different aspects of life in space, was Samantha Cristoforetti. We decided to make a little research and find out details about this woman who made our lessons more interesting!
Samantha Cristoforetti was born in Milan, Italy, on 26 April 1977.
Education
Samantha completed her secondary education at the Liceo Scientifico in Trento, Italy, in 1996.
In 2001, she graduated from the Technische Universität Munich, Germany, with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering with specialisations in aerospace propulsion and lightweight structures.
In 2001 Samantha joined the Italian Air Force Academy in Pozzuoli, Italy. As part of her training at the Italian Air Force Academy, she completed a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical sciences at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, in 2005.
Samantha is a Captain in the Italian Air Force.
Her Astronaut Career Records Awards
Samantha was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009. She joined ESA in September 2009 and completed basic astronaut training in November 2010. She was launched on a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 23 November 2014 on the second long-duration ASI mission and the eighth long-duration mission for an ESA astronaut.
Records
Samantha worked and lived on the International Space Station for almost 200 days as part of her Futura mission. When Samantha Cristoforetti landed on earth , she arrived as the holder of a new record: the longest space mission in history by a woman. She had been in space for 200 days.
In another source we found out that she is also known as the first person who brewed an espresso coffee in space.
Awards
On 20 July 2015 she was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italian: Ordine al merito della Repubblica Italiana) by President Mattarella.
