"It's much better than I dreamed of." To say it is Samantha Cristoforetti, the first Italian woman in space, shortly after the docking, which took place around 4 Italian time, at the International Space Station: "We were welcomed by a big party on board, there is a good meal, it was so much so that we didn't eat. Everything went very well, we saw spectacular images, the first sunrise and the stars”.
Cristoforetti, military pilot, air force captain and engineer, is 37 years old and was born in Milan, she spent her life in Trento and then traveling around Italy and the world: from university in Germany to the academy aeronautics of Pozzuoli, from France to Texas to Russia to arrive in space with a curriculum of absolute excellence.
On board the ISS, where Commander Barry E. Wilmore of NASA and the Russians Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Elena Serova were waiting for her, she will carry out various research tasks: among the various experiments, Cristoforetti will be the first to prepare a real espresso in space , thanks and a special coffee machine produced by Lavazza and Argoten. Terry Virts and Anton Shkaplerov are also docked with her. Overall Astrosamantha (this is her nickname on her Twitter) will have to carry out 200 exams dedicated to nutrition in extreme conditions.
The mission, called Futura, is the second long-term mission of the Italian Space Agency and will last five and a half months: the astronaut's return, therefore, is expected around May 2015.
