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She is something of a constant companion on a special mission: Samantha Cristoforetti's Barbie doll.
Cristoforetti is Europe's first woman commander of the International Space Station (ISS).
With the help of her doll, the Italian also wants to arouse enthusiasm for space travel in little girls.
Some were now allowed to communicate with Cristoforetti in space:
"Why did you want to be an astronaut?"
Samantha Cristoforetti, ISS Commander
»Growing up I was fascinated by the night sky and the idea of going into space and the sense of adventure and exploration. Then I got interested in science and technology, and then I really loved flying, I became a pilot. And as an astronaut, all these passions and interests come together.«
Astronauts are often on board the space station for months.
That's what they trained for.
But what if things don't go so well?
Elizabeth, 10 years
»Who takes care of you when you are ill?«
Samantha Cristoforetti, astronaut
'Well, I hope I don't get sick.
You know, you can't catch a cold up here because there's nobody who can infect you.
So we made sure that if we come here a couple of weeks before a flight we won't be exposed to contagious diseases.
But of course something can happen to you, for example you can get injured, and in that case we call our flight medics on the ground and talk to them about what's going on and they give us advice.
We all have some training in medical techniques and we also have a small pharmacy on board with a range of medicines and medical supplies to help us deal with minor medical problems.”
The ISS is a research laboratory that orbits the earth at an altitude of around 400 kilometers.
Many experiments are carried out on board.
So eight-year-old Berenice wanted to know the following.
Berenice, 8 years
"What's the most surprising experiment you've performed onboard the ISS?"
Samantha Cristoforetti, Astronaut “One of the most surprising and fun experiments I remember took place on my first mission. It was about raising different generations of fruit flies here on board.«
A question that not only concerns children is the question of nutrition.
"Can you eat pizza on board?"
Samantha Cristoforetti, Astronaut »Unfortunately, a real pizza has to be made in a real oven, and we don't have one on board. We only have an electric oven for heating bags of groceries. However, a while back we found a way to eat something pizza-like that wasn't all that bad."
Samantha Cristoforetti is a former Italian Air Force fighter pilot.
She is the first Italian woman in space and the first European woman to complete a spacewalk.
Her passion for the Barbie doll originated in 2019 when the doll was designed in her image.
However, the first Barbie in an astronaut suit was available much earlier: 1965 – four years before the first moon landing.
