Samantha Cristoforetti is a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut of Italian nationality. Between November 2014 and June 2015 she spent 199 days on board the International Space Station as a Flight Engineer for Expedition 42 and 43. During ASI's Futura Mission, Cristoforetti conducted experiments in the Station's laboratories. She is a Captain in the Italian Air Force.
Cristoforetti is the author of Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut.
At the Guardian she tagged ten books that seem truest to the extraordinary experience of learning to be an extraterrestrial human being. One title on the list:
Carrying the Fire by Mike CollinsRead about another entry on the list.
I am fascinated by Collins, by the absolute loneliness of his solitary orbits around the moon while his crewmates Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were on the surface during the Apollo 11 mission. This is his autobiography – and it is honest, humble, unafraid to delve into the details. My favourite quote from the book: “I have not been able to do these things because of any great talent I possess; rather, it has all been the roll of the dice, the same dice that cause the growth of cancer cells, or an aircraft ejection seat to work or not.”
--Marshal Zeringue
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