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Samantha Cristoforetti she is an astronaut, aviator and engineer: a woman of records for her many successes and firsts obtained in the workplace.
Class 1977, she turns 44: she was born in Milan on April 26th. In her curriculum there are many successes: she was the first Italian woman in the ESA (European Space Agency) crews, she established the European and female record for staying in space with a single flight (later surpassed by two other colleagues): in fact she was for 199 days (and a few hours) on the International Space Station.
Over the course of his brilliant career, he also got gods awards. Already during his studies at the Air Force Academy of Pozzuoli he received the saber of honor which is assigned to those who stand out as first in class for three years in a row. She was selected as an ESA astronaut in 2009, the third woman in Europe and the first Italian. He is Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, he was dedicated an asteroid, a hybrid of a wild orchid and a Barbie. He speaks five languages and, some time ago, he told of studying Chinese.
In his long curriculum there are also two books: In space with Samantha written with Stefano Sandrelli from 2016 published by Feltrinelli Kids e Diary of an astronaut apprentice, published by La nave di Teseo dated 2018.
The documentary film was dedicated to her Astrosamantha – The woman of records in space of 2016 directed by Gianluca Cerasola made with the collaboration of ESA, ASI (Italian Space Agency) and Aeronautica Militare.
A career full of satisfactions, the last of which was the selection in 2021 for the USCV – 4 mission, from a private point of view Samantha Cristoforetti has a partner with whom she had a daughter in 2016. It is about Lionel Ferra, French, also an engineer, he works as an astronaut instructor at the ESA in Cologne, where they live and where their daughter was born. Both are very reserved with regards to private life, so much so that the news of the baby’s birth (which took place in November 2016), was leaked only some time later, but previously some gossip had come out that revealed the pregnancy. The baby was called Kelsey Amal names meaning brave and hope respectively.
If so much is known about his career, less known is the astronaut’s private life, who even in interviews has never revealed much of his most personal sphere.
And from a working point of view, the astronaut is preparing for the next mission, scheduled for spring 2022 when he will return to the stars on the International Space Station.
