First Female Italian Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti Arrives At The Space Station

Italys first female astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti was welcomed aboard the International Space Station with smiles and hugs today.

Although Cristoforetti, who flew to the station in an agreement between her countrys space agency ASI and the European Space Agency, has yet to tweet from space, ESA has released a video clip of her entrance onto the ISS ISS

Cristoforetti and her crewmates Terry Virts of NASA and Roscosmos Anton Shkaplerov blasted off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz transport craft late last night local time and docked with the station just under six hours later.

They were welcomed aboard the orbiting science laboratory by NASA station commander Barry Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Yelena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev.

Cristoforetti will be living and working on the station for the next five months, during which the first half of Expedition 42 will set off home and Virts will take over command for the start of the overlapping Expedition 43.

The Italian astronaut was assigned to the mission more than two years ago and has spent that time learning how to control the stations robotic arms and perform all the scientific experiments for her tour, as well as how to handle any emergencies that might pop up. She also learned to fly the Soyuz capsule that took them to the ISS, a hurdle every crew member has to clear, and had to go through a two-week quarantine period before setting off.

According to ESA, Cristoforetti was one of the first women to apply as soon as the Italian air force opened to women and shes logged over 500 hours in military aircraft. She was one of six chosen from 8,000 applicants to join the ESA astronaut corps in 2009.

While onboard the station, her main tasks will be to run science experiments that cant be performed on Earth and maintain the microgravity lab that will be her second home. Her scientific programme includes experiments in biology and human physiology as well as radiation research and technology demonstrations.

She will also be the prime operator for the undocking of ESAs final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), the stations largest unmanned support craft. ATV Georges Lematre is the fifth in the series and was named after the Belgian astronome ISSThe space agency announced it would be discontinuing its ATVs back in 2012, as parts for the crafts became obsolete and European member states lost the appetite for the million-dollar spaceships.

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First Female Italian Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti Arrives At The Space Station