Lthe news was expected but confirmation from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) was not obvious and is to be celebrated. Since the beginning of his mission, “Minerva”, started on April 22 from Cape Canaveral and still in progress, Samantha Cristoforetti was responsible for the orbital segment of the United States (Usos)with tasks of supervising the activities in the American, European, Japanese and Canadian modules and components of the station.
Samantha Cristoforetti commanders of the ISS (briefly)
Before it was launched, in reality, the Italian astronaut was expected to assume responsibility for the command of the entire ISS: this was not the case, probably for political reasons, never confirmed. Today’s good news is no less: Samantha Cristoforetti becomes commander. Unfortunately, for a few days: he is expected to return to Earth in the second week of October.
Cristoforetti also becomes the fifth European commander of the ISS and the second of Italian nationality: his appointment follows that of his colleagues Esa Frank De Winne, Alexander Gerst, Luca Parmitano and Thomas Pesquet.
The ceremony of passing the keys into orbit
The official will come with the symbolic passage of a key by the previous commander, cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, to the new one. The ceremony will take place on Wednesday 28 September and will be broadcast live from the International Space Station on ESA Web TV.
As commander of the Space Station, AstroSamantha will be responsible for the performance and well-being of the crew in orbit, will have the task of communicating with the control center on the ground and will have to coordinate the crew in case of any emergency situation. As Samantha Cristoforetti will take over for a short time, uone of his duties will be to organize the complete handover to the next crew.
Applause for AstroSamantha floated, starting with that of president of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) Giorgio Saccoccia: «Congratulations to Samantha. Her appointment is a source of particular pride for Italy and for Europe. As the first European woman to hold the position of commander of the International Space Station, Samantha will once again be an inspiration to the younger generation“.
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