Italy-UK PARTNERSHIP

PARTNERSHIP | Spring 2019 12 Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti brought Italy to space European and Italian Space Agency’s Futura Mission F rom the grand era of the Roman Empire, to Leonardo da Vinci’s flight machines, until Cristoforo Colombo’s great explorations across the sea, Italians seem to have a special gene in their DNA for travel and discovery. Centuries have passed, but this lust for journey and wonder has not died out. Today, thanks to aerospace technologies, exploration keeps expanding further. The Italian Space Agency (ASI), in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), was a key player in the Futura Mission, which gave astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti the opportunity to live on the International Space Station (ISS) for almost 200 days. EXCELLENCE IN AEROSPACE: SAMANTHA CRISTOFORETTI One of the ASI’s major accomplishments, the long-duration Futura space mission, was the result of joint international teamwork of the ESA, the Russian Corporation for Space Activity (Roscosmos), and the American Aeronautics and Aerospace Administration Agency (NASA). On 23 rd November 2014, three astronauts were launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, to the ISS, which would be their home for the next 6 months. The three crew members were Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, NASA astronaut Terry Virts, and Italian ESA astronaut and Air Force Captain Samantha Cristoforetti.  Cristoforetti was the 7 th ESA astronaut and the 1 st woman ESA astronaut in a long duration mission. Born in 1977, she grew up near Trento on the Italian Alps. In 2001, she completed her Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Munich, and later joined the Italian Air Force. By the age of 29, she had earned her jet fighter pilot qualification at the US Sheppard Air Force Base and had completed her basic ESA astronaut training one year later.  During the Futura space mission, Samantha successfully carried out technical experiments that could only be done in space, especially in the fields of technology, biology and nutrition. Futura’s journey was shared via Twitter by Samantha herself as @Astrosaman- tha, inspiring younger generations with her fascination for our planet and the outer space.  Once back on Earth, Italian President Sergio Mattarella awarded her with the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, recognising her excellent achievements in space. RESEARCH AT ESA Founded in 1975, the ESA has been fostering and promoting space research and technological development programmes for over forty years. Its aim is to discover more about the space environment, the Earth and the Solar System, and to implement satellite technologies that can benefit Europe and the world.  The organisation is responsible for the European Space Programme and involves 22 European member countries. Among them, the ASI and the UK Space Agency were respectively the 3 rd (11.8%) and the 4 th (8.4%) contributors of the 2018 €5.6bn budget.  The ESA boasts several first class research centres in Europe, each focusing on different areas of expertise, like the ESRIN centre specialised in Earth Observation and the ECSAT in Harwell (UK), with a focus on Space Applications and Telecommunications. ·