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Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti poses within the Cupola module of the Worldwide House Station with two 100-day patches to mark her 200th day in house. She is now set to return to her ‘house away from house’ for much more days in house.
Samantha first flew to the Worldwide House Station on a Soyuz spacecraft in 2014 for a mission often called ‘Futura’. Her second flight follows the second missions of her fellow 2009 astronaut classmates Alexander Gerst in 2018, Luca Parmitano in 2019 and Thomas Pesquet in 2021. It might additionally see a direct on-Station handover with Matthias Maurer who’s scheduled to fly his first mission to the House Station later this yr. The spacecraft Samantha will fly on will not be but confirmed, however might be a SpaceX Crew Dragon or Boeing CST-100 Starliner.
Throughout Futura, Samantha supported an in depth scientific programme of experiments in bodily science, biology and human physiology in addition to radiation analysis and expertise demonstrations.
She additionally oversaw the undocking of ESA’s fifth and last Automated Switch Automobile (ATV). This marked the top of a profitable programme that paved the way in which for the European Service Modules presently being produced for NASA’s Orion spacecraft that may journey round and to the Moon.
Coaching for Samantha’s second mission is already underway and has included Worldwide House Station refresher classes at ESA’s astronaut centre in Cologne, Germany, and NASA’s Johnson House Heart in Houston, Texas.
Within the coming months, her schedule will intensify as she brushes up on House Station programs and procedures and trains for the precise experiments and duties she’s going to carry out in house.
Extra particulars of Samantha’s second mission shall be introduced throughout a digital press briefing on Wednesday, three March, at 11:00 CET. Watch on ESA Internet TV here.
ESA can be within the strategy of recruiting its subsequent class of astronauts. For extra on the upcoming choice go to esa.int/YourWayToSpace.
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