Exciting days lie ahead for ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti
as she trains for her second long-duration mission
aboard the International Space Station,
ISS.
Known as Minerva,
this mission will see the Italian ESA astronaut
launched to the Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
in a Crew Dragon spacecraft.
For her first mission,
Futura,
which was provided by Italian Space Agency ASI
and began in 2014,
Samantha flew to the ISS on a Soyuz vehicle.
Regarding the vehicle,
the training experience has been definitely quite different.
On Soyuz,
I was a flight engineer,
so sort of like a co-pilot,
I had a very deep knowledge of the systems,
and I was a full backup of the commander for all the tasks on board.
On Dragon,
I will be a mission specialist,
so I will not have a direct interaction with the systems on board.
That will be the responsibility of my crewmates
Kjell and ‘Farmer’.
So my training load was a lot smaller in this case.
Like all ESA astronauts,
Samantha will carry out many scientific experiments on the ISS
and within the European Columbus laboratory.
The Space Station’s weightless environment
provides opportunities for research that is not possible on the ground.
On the ISS,
Samantha may even have a brief cross-over with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer
before his return to Earth.
The name of Samantha’s second mission,
Minerva,
in inspired by the Roman Goddess of wisdom,
handicrafts,
and the arts.
It is a homage to the competence and craftsmanship
of all those who make human spaceflight possible.
The name also represents the traits Samantha attributes to human spaceflight.
I also like to play with words
and for each letter that makes up the name Minerva
I can think of the word with that initial letter
that gives context and meaning
to...
my flight to space.
But in a broader sense to human spaceflight.
So M for Marvel,
I for inspiration
and N for nourishment,
which can be physical nourishment,
but also spiritual, nourishment.
E for exploration,
R for research,
V for voyage
and A for adventure.
The theme of exploration,
voyage
and the human achievements of spaceflight
are also echoed in Samantha’s new mission patch,
which features Minerva’s sacred owl.
The eye of the owl is a yellow Moon,
casting a white glow onto Earth.
Its beak is reminiscent of the shape of the International Space Station,
while the two lines
also symbolise Samantha’s two missions to space.
The owl’s body is made up of waves of ever darker blue,
encouraging humankind to rise to the challenge
as we move farther into deep space.
An ambition Samantha shares.
I'm very excited, of course,
about the next programme of human space exploration,
the Artemis programme.
ESA plays a major role in that we provide
the service module for Orion,
for the spaceship that will bring astronauts back to the Moon,
to the orbit of the Moon.
And I really hope
that this is just the beginning and that
Europe
and the countries
and the Member States of ESA
and ESA
will...
be more and more ambitious when it comes to capabilities
regarding human spaceflight
so that we can be...
more and more in the future equal partners
as we expand our presence in space.
Samantha has a full schedule of training in the lead-up to launch
splitting her time between the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany,
and NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas,
as ESA counts down to another action-packed mission in orbit.