Samantha Cristoforetti, Astronaut

Woman of Interest

Samantha Cristoforetti, Astronaut

Samantha Cristoforetti is 43 years old, born in 1977, and the first Italian woman in space. She grew up in the Italian Alps in the small village of Male.

Samantha speaks four foreign languages. She has a BA in Aeronautical Sciences and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. Prior to becoming an astronaut, she was a Captain in the Italian Air Force and a qualified fighter pilot. Samantha was chosen from 8400 initial applicants to become a European Space Agency astronaut in 2009. She lives in Cologne, Germany home to the European Astronaut Center.

Samantha spent 200 days in space doing many activities: lab work ( such as experiments to study the effects of space on human physiology), workouts (such as lifting weights in weightlessness) and squats (such as using the “Advanced Resistive Exercise Device”, a NASA contraption. She continues to train and could go back to the space station in 2022.

Samantha has a 3 and 1/2-year-old daughter. The child’s father is Lionel Ferra. According to an Italian article, he is French and an astronaut instructor.

Her book, Diary of an Apprentice Astronut, describes the training she went through to visit space and she describes the breathtaking views of the Earth below.