Samantha Cristoforetti (born 26 April 1977 in Milan) is an Italian European Space Agency astronaut, Italian Air Force pilot and engineer. She holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight of a European astronaut (199 days, 16 hours), and until June 2017 held the record for the longest single space flight by a woman until this was broken by Peggy Whitson. She is also the first Italian woman in space. Samantha Cristoforetti is also known as the first person who brewed an espresso in space.
Soyuz TMA-15M begins expedition 42 by carrying 3 astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Russian Commander, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov alongside Flight Engineers, Samantha Cristoforetti (ESA) & Terry W. Virts (NASA) will launch aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and then rendezvous with the station. It landed on 11 June 2015 13:44 UTC
Low Earth OrbitThe European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,000 employees. ESA's space flight programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana.