According to ESA, she is the woman who has spent the longest continuous time in space. Now the Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti faces a new challenge. She is the first European to take command of the ISS.
Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has become the first European woman to take command of the International Space Station. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev officially handed over command to the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut in a ceremony, as shown in a live broadcast by the US space agency Nasa. “It is an honor and a privilege to represent Europe in space on the ISS,” said the 45-year-old.
Before Cristoforetti, four other Europeans had commanded the ISS: German Alexander Gerst, Belgian Frank De Winne, Italian Luca Parmitano and French Thomas Pesquet. With the NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson, Sunita Williams and Shannon Walker, three women were already in command of the space station.
Cristoforetti left for her second mission on the ISS in April. In July, she became the first European in history to complete a field mission on the ISS. The former air force pilot has been the record holder since her first ISS mission from 2014 to 2015: At that time she spent almost 200 days in space and is therefore, according to ESA, the woman who has spent the longest uninterrupted time in space.
As The European Space Agency (ESA) reports, Christoforetti graduated in mechanical engineering from the Technical University of Munich in 2001. Further study trips took her to Toulouse in France and Moscow, among other places. In 2001 Cristoforetti went to the Italian Air Force. There she was accepted as an officer cadet at the Accademia Aeronautica, where she studied for four years. In May 2009, Cristoforetti was selected as an ESA astronaut and joined ESA in September 2009. She completed her basic astronaut training in November 2010.