N° 5–2021: Call for media: Second spaceflight for Samantha Cristoforetti

This will be the second spaceflight for Samantha, who is a member of ESA’s astronaut class of 2009. During her first mission ‘Futura’ in 2014–15, she spent 200 days in space, carrying out science and operations on the International Space Station as a flight engineer for Expeditions 42 and 43.

After returning to Earth, Samantha led Spaceship EAC, a student-centred initiative based at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, focused on the technological challenges of future missions to the Moon. She was crew representative for ESA in the Gateway project to establish a space station in lunar orbit, and led the crew of NASA’s 23rd Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO23) mission on a 10-day stay in the world’s only undersea research station, Aquarius, in 2019.

Samantha looks forward to her second mission. “The International Space Station is humankind’s outpost in space. It’s an engineering marvel, a place of peaceful and fruitful international cooperation, an interdisciplinary laboratory dedicated to science in weightlessness.

“It’s our first step in establishing continuous human presence in space. As we prepare to take the next step in this decade with a permanent human infrastructure in lunar orbit, I am thrilled and honoured to go back to the International Space Station, my home away from home.”

Programme

11:00–11:45 CET: Press briefing, online

Participants

• Samantha Cristoforetti, ESA Astronaut
• Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General as of 1 March
• David Parker, ESA Director Human and Robotic Exploration
• Giorgio Saccoccia, President of the Italian space agency ASI

Media registration

This press event will take place online in English. Registered media will be able to ask questions in English, French, German and Italian.

Please register online at: https://www.esa.int/Contact/mediaregistration by 2 March 2021.

Upcoming events are posted on the launch calendar and events calendar at www.esa.int/newsroom.

Contact

If you have further questions or interview requests, please contact media@esa.int.

Social media

Follow ESA on

Twitter: @esaspaceflight @AstroSamantha
Instagram: Europeanspaceagency
Facebook: EuropeanSpaceAgency
YouTube: ESA
LinkedIn: European-Space-Agency

Images

Samantha Cristoforetti:
http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Search?SearchText=Samantha+Cristoforetti&result_type=images

Samantha Cristoforetti training:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjBXLmW7

Terms and conditions for using ESA images:
www.esa.int/spaceinimages/ESA_Multimedia/Copyright_Notice_Images

For questions or more information related to ESA images, please contact directly spaceinimages@esa.int.

Videos

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos

Terms and conditions for using ESA videos:
https://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions

For questions or more information related to ESA videos, please contact directly spaceinvideos@esa.int.

About the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA has 22 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Slovenia and Latvia are Associate Members.

ESA has established formal cooperation with six Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.

By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.

Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int

For further information:

ESA Newsroom and Media Relations Office – Ninja Menning

Email: media@esa.int

Tel: +31 71 565 6409