«The spacewalk was the culmination of so much work and effort. Now I want to help our young people»- Corriere TV

Martina Pennisi / by Martina Pennisi / CorriereTv

“Compared to the first flight, what caused me amazement mixed with pleasure were the auroras: the solar activity was more intense, very often we went to the dome and there were these magnificent auroras through which we flew”.
Samantha Cristoforetti she still has in her eyes the colors and commitment of the Minerva mission which took her to the International Space Station for the second time, from the end of April to mid-October. Adding up the two experiences, the ESA astronaut spent 368 days in space. You answer from the European Astronaut Center in Cologne.
«I’ve just returned from a long break for the Christmas holidays in Trentino, my region of origin, and I’m getting back to work. We still have some activities to do for the post-flight sessions, some experiments and medical checks».

What kind of experiments have you conducted?
«One of the ones I followed concerns the mechanics of fluids: how the movement of fluids in a container works. Interesting from a fundamental point of view and with many applications on the design of fuel tanks».

She became the first European female astronaut to take a spacewalk.
«It was a pretty intense experience even in the preparation phases. Opening the hatch was gratifying: the culmination of a lot of work and effort. The training was challenging because spacewalks are very difficult, especially for relatively small sized people like me. Then I trained with the American NASA suit and I found myself doing it with the Russian one. In the end, everything is needed: this building character, resilience to difficulties, physical fatigue”.

She was also the first European to take command of the Station.
«It’s a role that only applies in critical situations that luckily didn’t happen. However, I had the responsibility of doing the briefings, introducing the new crew and making sure that everyone was aware of their role during any emergency».

The station will be decommissioned in a few years.
«It will continue to operate at least until 2030. In ten years it is not excluded that there will be several stations operated by private companies in low orbit. This is the big change from my 2015 mission: such a strong presence of private actors, mostly American. Suffice it to say that at the launch of Minerva we were stuck at Cape Canaveral because there was a crew of private astronauts on board the Station who had to clear the parking space. In this context, I believe it is important for Europe to increase the level of ambition from the point of view of autonomous access to Space, even with human beings».

Aim for the moon?
«For now it is a very distant, abstract thing. I will certainly come back to lend a hand on the Gateway project, for which we are building the main housing module in Europe and with the Italian prime contractor industry. We’ll see how the program develops.”

Do you feel fulfilled? «Yes, for the things that I have had the opportunity to experience and experience in my professional and private life, but I am also projected towards the future to understand where I can contribute to give more and more opportunities to our young people in Europe».

She is a model. Do you think that Prime Minister Meloni can also be the same for women who do not identify with her political side?
“The fact that our country is led by a woman can only have a positive effect on the growth of the new generations who are forming and are forming their own more egalitarian vision of the world right now”.