Mission concluded for Samantha Cristoforetti . The Italian astronaut returned to Earth aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom shuttle, which landed in the Atlantic off the coast of Florida. He spent six months on the International Space Station with Americans Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren and Jessica Watkins, all of NASA.
Hines was the first to get out of the shuttle and deal with gravity after 170 days spent in weightlessness, then it was the turn of Lindgren and Watkins, and finally Cristoforetti (Esa).
Many scientific activities and numerous experiments planned by the Minerva mission were conducted on board the ISS.
AstroSamantha has studied the effects of weightlessness on the female reproductive system and on the characteristics of Italian extra virgin olive oil and has also dedicated a lot of time to connections with schools and talking to children about the value and beauty of science.
Two records have been achieved : the spacewalk, which on 21 July made AstroSamantha the first European to tackle an extravehicular activity (Eva); and the command of the Space Station, initially announced, then vanished and materialized on September 28th. Cristoforetti thus also became the first European astronaut to have this role.
(Unioneonline / ss)