ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti's Arrival | NASA's Kennedy Space Center

ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti's Arrival | NASA's Kennedy Space Center

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti arrives at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, with NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins on April 18, 2022. 

Collectively known as SpaceX Crew-4, the astronauts flew in from Houston, Texas, and are spending this week in quarantine before being launched to the International Space Station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. 

When they arrive at the International Space Station (ISS), Samantha’s Minerva mission will officially begin. This is the second long-duration space mission for Samantha who first flew to the orbital outpost in 2014 for her Italian Space Agency (ASI) sponsored mission Futura. 

Samantha will be welcomed on board by fellow ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and enjoy a short handover in orbit before Matthias returns to Earth in April as part of SpaceX 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.

Learn more about Mission Minerva: https://bit.ly/MissionMinerva

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Duration: 6 minutes, 45 seconds

Release Date: April 20, 2022

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