A Dragon stands ready for launch

SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom sits atop a Falcon 9 rocket on Launchpad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, ready for the launch of Crew-4 to the International Space Station.

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will be launched in this spacecraft alongside NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert “Bob” Hines and Jessica Watkins. Collectively, the astronauts are known as Crew-4.During their journey to the orbital outpost Samantha and Jessica will serve as Mission Specialists, Kjell will be Commander and Bob will be the crew’s Pilot.

Samantha first flew to space in 2014 for her Italian Space Agency ASI-sponsored mission Futura. Her ESA space mission, known as Minerva, will officially begin once she reaches the Station.

Crew-4 will be welcomed by the International Space Station’s current crew, including ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. Samantha and Matthias will enjoy a brief handover in orbit before Matthias returns to Earth with Crew-3.

Throughout her mission, Samantha will hold the role of US Orbital Segment (USOS) lead, taking responsibility for all operations within the US, European, Japanese and Canadian modules and components of the Space Station. She will support around 35 European and many more international experiments in orbit.