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First European female ISS commander starts preparation for flight in Russia

This space mission will be the second for Samantha Cristoforetti

ROME, December 6. /TASS/. Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti who will be the first European woman to command the International Space Station (ISS) has already started her preparation for the flight, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told a meeting of the Russia-Italy committee of entrepreneurs on Monday.

"Currently, the first female European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has been training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. As far as I know, she can lead the next Expedition 68 on the ISS. I sincerely wish success to this space mission," he said.

Before the flight, all astronauts study the Russian segment of the station, and the cosmonauts of Roscosmos (Russia’s State Space Corporation) study the American one.

This space mission will be the second for Cristoforetti. It was reported that NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Robert Hines are set to go with her. The launch of the Crew Dragon manned spacecraft of SpaceX with a crew on board is to take place from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in Florida in 2022. Cristoforetti will be the fifth ISS commander from Europe in history.

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