UNICO

PEOPLE
Newsmakers
Out of this
worldby Jim Distasio
Photos courtesy of European Space Agency
Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti
spent a record-breaking 199 days aboard
the International Space Station, earning
distinctions for being the first Italian
woman in space as well as securing the
record for longest duration in space by a
woman when she returned home in
June.
But Cristoforetti’s months-long
trek among the stars, her first,
wasn’t without a little taste of
her native Italia.
In addition to her other accolades,
the 38-year-old
Cristoforetti also holds the
unique honor of being the
first person ever to brew an
espresso in space. Yes, that’s
one small cup of coffee, but
one giant leap for baristas
everywhere.
With the help of coffeemaker
Lavazza and the engineering firm
Argotec, Cristoforetti brewed the
drink while orbiting more than 250
miles above our planet, using a cup specially
designed for zero gravity to sip the
Italian staple. She even marked the occasion
by donning a Starfleet uniform from
the TV show “Star Trek,” a pop culture favorite
of hers, and tweeted from ISS, “Coffee:
the finest organic suspension ever
devised. Fresh espresso in the new zero-G
cup! To boldly brew … ”
Cristoforetti, who also is an engineer,
fighter pilot and captain in the Italian Air
Force, wasn’t even supposed to break the
woman’s duration record on this mission,
the longest ever for the Italian space agency
ASI, but a technical difficulty with a Russian
cargo spacecraft pushed the team’s re-
turn date.
Cristoforetti says she doesn’t feel it’s a
record she’s truly earned.
200 days in space
“I think records are more something
for media to write about because it’s potentially
a piece of news,” she told Time magazine.
“But of course for me, it really
doesn’t make a huge difference having
been in space 200 days as opposed to 190,
which would not have been the record.”
Despite her humble protests, Cristoforetti’s
work on the Futura mission, a
name she helped crowd-source from the
Italian people in the lead-up to liftoff, was
a big deal. It not only worked toward scien-
▲ SAMANTHA
CRISTOFORETTI
One of the first women to join the Italian
military, she once again broke new
ground when she became the first Italian
woman in space.
tific discovery in the fields of physical
science, human physiology and radiation
research, to name a few of
many disciplines, it also moved
humanity one step closer to
greater space exploration
within our solar system.
Moreover, Cristoforetti’s
journey served as an inspirational
story for her fellow Italians,
especially for young
women looking to enter the
typically male-dominated fields
of science and technology.
Cristoforetti acknowledges
she’s now in a privileged position
to help guide others to follow their
dreams like she has.
“I really hope to be a role model for
anybody who is interested in this field,”
Cristoforetti told NASA in an interview. “I
think growing up I have looked up to men
and women equally and tried to learn from
other people who I felt could be role models,
something that I could apply in my
life. Now, of course, what can be especially
important for women is that it can be encouraging
to see that women can do that
and in fields where there are not that many
women it can be quite important, actually.”
For her efforts, Cristoforetti was
awarded a Knighthood of the Grand Cross
of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Continues on page 62 …
FRA NOI for ComUNICO September 2015 61