Samantha Cristoforetti’s second space mission, Minerva, has begun. The Italian ESA astronaut flew to the International Space Station as a Crew-4 Mission Specialist on Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom, alongside three NASA colleagues. Watch the lead-up to this spectacular launch and her first moments on board.

Samantha first flew to the Station in 2014 for her Italian Space Agency ASI-sponsored mission Futura. During that mission, she spent almost 200 days in space. This time, she was launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, USA, travelling in a Crew Dragon spacecraft for the first time.

This clip shows some highlights from her launch, including her arrival with fellow Crew-4 NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins, at KSC on 18 April. The crew spent their final days in quarantine before waving goodbye to family and boarding their spacecraft for a launch at 08:52 BST/09:52 CEST on Wednesday 27 April.

Two zero g indicators, Zippy the turtle and Etta the monkey, signaled their arrival in microgravity and after approximately 15 hours, Freedom docked autonomously to the Space Station where Crew-4 was welcomed aboard.

Samantha’s arrival marked a rare moment for Europe, as two ESA astronauts greeted one another in orbit. ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer enjoyed a brief handover with Samantha on Station before his return to Earth with Crew-3 in early May.

For more about Samantha and her Minerva mission, visit the Minerva mission page.

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