The Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 23 November 2014 with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and her crewmates to the weightless research centre where they will live and work for five months.
With Samantha are Russian Soyuz commander Anton Shkaplerov and NASA astronaut Terry Virts. All three are part of the Station’s Expedition 42/43 crew.
On this mission, Samantha is flying as an ESA astronaut for Italy’s ASI space agency under a special agreement between ASI and NASA.
Credit: ESA–S. Corvaja, 2014
Tags: Futura Futura42 Samantha Cristoforetti launch Soyuz TMA-15M Baikonur Cosmodrome
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ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti during a simulation inside the full-scale mockup of the Soyuz capsule, at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, on 14 October 2014.
Samantha Cristoforetti is assigned to fly on the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft to the ISS, scheduled for November 2014 and as part of Expedition 42/43.
Credit:ESA–S. Corvaja, 2014
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In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 42/43 crewmembers Terry Virts of NASA (left), Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, center) and Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (right) listen to reporters’ questions Nov. 12 during a “fit check” dress rehearsal. The trio will launch Nov. 24, Kazakh time, from Baikonur in the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft for a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA/Victor Ivanov
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ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti during training, at the Building 9’s Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF), at the NASA's Johnson Space Center, on 2 July 2014.
The training catalog includes about 200 different SVMF classes to prepare astronauts in how to respond to just about any issue or emergency in orbit.
Samantha Cristoforetti is assigned to fly on the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft to the ISS, scheduled for November 2014 and as part of Expedition 42/43.
Credit: ESA–S. Corvaja, 2014
Tags: Futura Samantha Cristoforetti Astronaut training Astronaut exp 41/42 exp 42/43
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ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, NASA astronaut Terry Virts and Russian commander Anton Shkaplerov landed safely on 11 June 2015 in the Kazakh steppe after a three-hour ride in their Soyuz spacecraft. They left the International Space Station at 10:20 GMT at the end of their six-month stay on the research complex.
Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov, and Samantha Cristoforetti are returning after more than six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 42 and 43 crews.
Credit: ESA–S. Corvaja, 2015
Tags: Samantha Cristoforetti Futura Futura42 astronaut landing Soyuz TMA-15M
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