Samantha Cristoforetti announced the name of the Italian constellation of Earth Observation. You clear her words during the live connection from the ISS, with the ASI general quarier. Here they are below: "Roberto Vittori and I have chosen the name 'Iris'for the new Italian constellation of Earth Observation ".
The choice will not have been easy, given that the proposals arrived were even a thousand, from about 600 Italian schools. These were the results, again reported by Cristoforetti, of the Midt competition, by the Ministry of Education and ASI for Italian schools. At the call with theItalian astronaut the Minister for Technological Innovation and the Digital Transition, Vittorio Colao, the Minister of Education, Patrizio Bianchi, the President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Giorgio Saccoccia, and the Director of Human and Robotics Exploration soon join of ESA, David Parker.
Samantha Cristoforetti: "ready for the Moon"
The Italian astronaut explained that there is an agreement to send three European astronauts into the cislunar orbit and onto the Gateway. She seemed interested enough to participate in such a mission. These are her words: “So far I have not trained to perform a mission for the lunar orbit station on the Gateway, which will carry out a new mission to the Moon. However, in the waiting phase between the last space mission I conducted and this current one, I participated in the development phase of the European module International Habitat which is at an advanced stage of development in Italy, in Turin. "
On the subject of the Moon, the Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti then concluded: "The agreement to have three European astronauts for missions in the cislunar orbit may also be a possibility for me".
Cristoforetti, Italian pride
La Cristoforetti, was born in 1977 in Milan. She manages to be admitted in 2001 to the Air Force Academy of Pozzuoli, leaving it in 2005. Subsequently, in 2005 and 2006, she obtained the specialization in the United States of America with the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) program. In May 2009 she was selected as an astronaut by the European Space Agency (ESA) as the first Italian woman and third European ever. On 3 July 2012, ESA announced her participation in the baptized mission Futura. Samantha Cristoforetti commanded the NEEMO 23 mission from 10 to 22 June 2019.
Photo source in evidence: tweet AstroSpace.it
