Space Mission: Air Force Captain Samantha Cristoforetti presents “Futura”

Pozzuoli (NA) 6 October 2014

Captain Samantha Cristoforetti, first Italian female astronaut due to board the International Space Station, illustrated Mission Futura to the students of the Air Force Institutes and Schools. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft will take place during the night between 23 and 24 November from the Baikonur Cosmodrome

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Samantha Cristoforetti,Italian Air Force Pilot and European Space Agency Astronaut illustrated the contents of the long-term Italian Space Agency Futura Mission. Cristoforetti will be the protagonist of the mission, the first Italian female astronaut to work in the International Space Station (ISS), where she will be stationed for six months.

Captain Cristoforetti will take part in the mission as ISS Expedition 42/43 Flight Engineer. The launch will take place from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, during the night between 23 and 24 November.

Cristoforetti’s travel companions aboard the Soyuz spacecraft will be Russian astronaut Anton Shkaplerov, Mission Commander, and US Flight Engineer Terry Virts.

The event falls within the context of training activities aimed at disseminating -within the Air Force- innovative concepts and technical know-how able to support operational capabilities used in the space sector.

Outer space is the natural extension of the operational environment of the Italian Air Force, that includes technology among its main assets. Its vocation for innovation and experimentation, as well as its long tradition in the study of satellites and supersonic and human flight, allowed Italian Air Force astronauts, from Roberto Vittori to Luca Parmitano, from Maurizio Cheli to Samantha Cristoforetti, all of them graduates from the Air Force Academy, to be called to take part in European Space Agency missions.

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