American Space Preeminence: Fwd: Soyuz TMA-15M Rockets to Orbit

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: November 23, 2014 at 5:41:53 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Soyuz TMA-15M Rockets to Orbit

The launch of manned spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-15M"
24/11/2014 00:10
On November 24, 00 hours 01 minutes Moscow time from launch pad 31 Baikonur Cosmodrome launchers calculations of rocket and space industry in Russia successfully launched a space rocket (RKN) "Soyuz-FG" intended for injection into orbit manned transport spacecraft (TPC ) "Soyuz TMA-15M."
Through 528 seconds of flight TPK "Soyuz TMA-15M" cleanly separated from the third stage rocket orbiting artificial satellite. Crew consisting of commander Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerova, flight engineers - Samantha Cristoforetti (ESA) and Terry Vertsa (NASA) feels good.
Joining TPK "Soyuz TMA-15M" with the International Space Station is scheduled for 5:50 MSK November 24th.
Press Service of the Russian Federal Space Agency

New Crew Launched to ISS From Baikonur Cosmodrome's Site 31

Three NASA's Terry Virts, Roscosmos' Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency's Samantha Cristoforet were launched Sunday to International Space Station (ISS) aboard Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome's Site 31.
BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan), November 24 (Sputnik) – Three crew members were launched Sunday to International Space Station (ISS) aboard Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome's Site 31.
The three crew members are NASA's Terry Virts, Roscosmos' Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency's Samantha Cristoforetti.

© 2014 Sputnik All rights reserved.

AmericaSpace
For a nation that explores
November 23rd, 2014

Soyuz TMA-15M Rockets to Orbit to Complete Expedition 42
By Ben Evans

Stunning perspective of the Soyuz TMA-15M launch at 3:01:14 a.m. local time Monday, 24 November (4:01:14 p.m. EST Sunday, 23 November). Photo Credit: Roscosmos, via European Space Agency (ESA)
Three new crew members, representing three discrete sovereign countries and three national space agencies, are heading towards a docking with the International Space Station (ISS), following the successful launch of Soyuz TMA-15M from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, U.S. astronaut Terry Virts and Italy's first woman in space, Samantha Cristoforetti, roared into the night at 3:01:14 a.m. local time Monday, 24 November (4:01:14 p.m. EST Sunday, 23 November), and at the time of writing are in the process of executing four thruster "burns" to position themselves for a docking at the station's Earth-facing (or "nadir") Rassvet module at about 9:53 p.m. EST Sunday, a little under six hours and four orbits after liftoff. The trio will form the second half of the incumbent Expedition 42 crew, joining U.S. astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Yelena Serova, who have been aboard the ISS since 25 September.
In readiness for their middle-of-the-night launch, the prime crew and their backups—Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, U.S. astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Japan's Kimiya Yui—were awakened about 8.5 hours before T-0. The final night's sleep on Earth had been a strange one, according to Cristoforetti, in her last logbook entry. Although she admitted that it was "kind of cool" to write "Sorry, I'm off the planet for a while" for her email out-of-office replies, the forthcoming event was too enormous to wholly play down with humor. "The nap has been weird," she wrote. "Part of my brain was dreaming, part of it was wide awake, watching myself dream. But that's how the past few days have been: part of me was living all the events, meetings, traditions, of the past days, and part of me was almost watching a movie unfolding." It only remained, she concluded, to thank her family, friends, teachers and colleagues for bringing her from a space-loving girl in northern Italy to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, about to be launched into space. "I go to space with all of myself," she said, rather poetically, "with everything that I am and I have experience and I certainly take with me every person I have met."
Joining the Soyuz TMA-15M crew to gain experience of this period of quarantine was Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who was assigned last year to a short-duration ISS mission, planned for late 2015. Terry Virts kicked off the day's tweets, noting at shortly after 5:00 p.m. local time (6:00 a.m. EST) Sunday that his final medical checks had begun and adding that he was "putting the final touches on packing…a great way to simplify your life!" Next came the process of showering, which Cristoforetti described as "probably my longest shower ever", as she paid tribute to "Good Russian wisdom to leave plenty of time for it on the schedule". They were disinfected and microbial samples were taken in support of the medical experiments to be conducted in orbit. The crew's final meal of home-made shepherd's pie was proudly tweeted by Cristoforetti, whilst Virts described the taste as "awesome" and wistfully remarked that "I'm going to miss these things".
Soyuz TMA-15M stands ready at Site 31/6 at Baikonur. This was the first piloted launch from this complex since October 2012, due to ongoing maintenance on Site 1/5. Photo Credit: NASA
Their final Earthly meal was followed by the traditional blessing by a Russian Orthodox priest and departure from Baikonur's Cosmonaut Hotel, shortly after 9:00 p.m. local time (10:00 a.m. EST), heading by bus to Site 254 to don their Sokol ("Falcon") launch and entry suits. Cristoforetti expressed her heartfelt thanks to her supporters for their enthusiasm, but closing with a brisk "Time to go. Talk to you from space." As the three prime crew members emerged from the hotel, the crowd of well-wishers included several current and former spacefarers. "Lots of family and friends there to cheer them on," tweeted former astronaut and current Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Sandy Magnus. "All were smiling!"
At Site 254, the crew was able to speak, face to face, with members of their families, an occasion punctuated by a moment of poignancy when Anton Shkaplerov and his eight-year-old daughter, Kira, pressed the palms of their hands onto opposite sides of the glass screen in a final farewell. It served as a stark reminder of the inherent danger of the mission upon which the Soyuz TMA-15M crew were about to embark. Despite her tender age, Kira has also played another vital role in tonight's flight to orbit, by providing the inspiration for the "gravity indicator" which will inform the Shkaplerov, Virts and Cristoforetti of the onset of weightlessness. She suggested a fluffy toy of the snowman Olaf, from the 2013 Disney animated film, "Frozen". Traditionally, a doll or mascot of some form is hung from a cord in the Soyuz descent module and when it begins to float it marks the crew's entrance into the peculiar microgravity environment. Such gravity indicators on previous missions have included a toy giraffe on Soyuz TMA-13M in May 2014, courtesy of U.S. astronaut Reid Wiseman's daughter, and a toy duck (nicknamed "Quack") on Soyuz TMA-12M in March 2014, provided by the daughter of Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov.
Astronauts past and present wished the crew well, with former shuttle flyer Tom Jones offering "Godspeed" to his fellow Maryland native Virts, as British astronaut Tim Peake—who is currently training for the six-month "Principia" expedition, funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and scheduled to begin in November 2015—tweeted "Godspeed, good luck & Go Shenanigans!" The Shenanigans is the group nickname applied to the six-strong ESA class of astronauts, selected in May 2009, to which both Peake and Cristoforetti belong. Veteran long-duration ISS resident Karen Nyberg added "Enjoy the ride!", whilst recently returned German astronaut (and fellow Shenanigan) Alexander Gerst tweeted that the violent ascent to orbit would be "a bumpy ride, but well worth it". Another member of the Shenanigans, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, is currently training to begin his own six-month mission in November 2016. "We will be watching," he told the crew, "and you'll be taking a part of us with you!"
Samantha Cristoforetti and Anton Shkaplerov (face partially obscured) run through their checklists in Soyuz TMA-15M's cabin during the pre-launch procedures. Photo Credit: Roscosmos
At 11:30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. EST) Sunday, Terry Virts tweeted a "selfie" from the bus, as he, Shkaplerov and Cristoforetti departed Site 254, bound for their waiting Soyuz-FG booster at Site 31/6. This marked the first occasion since Soyuz TMA-06M in October 2012 that this particular pad has been employed for a piloted launch; most ISS-bound Soyuz missions are lofted from Site 1/5, but this complex is presently undergoing a lengthy period of modification. Reaching the pad within the hour, the crew ascended the steps to the vehicle and were ensconced into their specially contoured seats aboard the bell-shaped Soyuz TMA-15M descent module. Cristoforetti assumed the Flight Engineer-1 position on the left side of the cabin, with Virts taking the Flight Engineer-2 seat on the right. At length, they were joined by Shkaplerov, who occupied the central commander's couch. Bob Behnken, the chief of NASA's astronaut office, tweeted at 12:40 a.m. local time Monday (1:40 p.m. EST Sunday) that all three crew members had boarded the spacecraft and hatches were sealed an hour later. Soyuz TMA-15M will deliver them to and from low-Earth orbit and will serve as their emergency return vehicle for the next six months.
As described in AmericaSpace's Soyuz TMA-15M preview article and crew profiles, this mission marks the second space voyage for both Shkaplerov and Virts. The former previously served aboard Expedition 29/30 in November 2011-April 2012, during which he accrued more than 165 days in orbit and one spacewalk, whilst the latter flew as pilot of shuttle Endeavour during the 13-day STS-130 mission in February 2010, which featured the delivery and installation of the Tranquility node and multi-windowed cupola at the ISS. By complete contrast, Soyuz TMA-15M will be the first flight of Cristoforetti, making her the 538th human space voyager, the 59th female spacefarer and Italy's first woman in space. Preceded by representatives of Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, France, Iran and China, her flight also marks out Italy as the ninth discrete sovereign nation to boast its own female astronaut.
Whilst the three crew members assumed their positions, final checks were underway on the giant Soyuz-FG booster, which is a direct descendent of Chief Designer Sergei Korolev's R-7 missile. An early version of this behemoth carried Yuri Gagarin into space in April 1961. Fueled with a mixture of liquid oxygen and a highly refined form of rocket-grade kerosene, known as "RP-1", the Soyuz-FG is powered off the pad by the single RD-108 engine of its core stage and the RD-107 engines of its four tapering, strap-on boosters. After the oxygen had been fully loaded, by 1:00 a.m. local time Monday (2:00 p.m. EST Sunday), it entered a "topping" mode, whereby all cryogenic boil-off was replenished until close to T-0, in order to ensure that the tanks remained at "Flight Ready" levels, ahead of engine ignition. Weather conditions at Baikonur were described as "bone-chilling" by NASA's Rob Navias, with a slight possibility of snow and a temperature of only a little higher than -8 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit).
The fourth and final Soyuz mission of 2014 takes flight into the darkened Baikonur sky. Photo Credit: Roscosmos
In the final 15 minutes, the Launch Abort System (LAS) was armed and transferred to Automatic Mode. Shkaplerov, Virts and Cristoforetti were instructed to close their visors and the commander's cockpit displays and instruments were activated. Internal avionics were initiated and the spacecraft's on-board flight recorders were spooled-up to monitor the myriad systems during ascent. Inside the control bunker, the "launch key"—an actual, physical key—was inserted in order to enable the ordnance to send the Soyuz-FG on its mission. This was followed by the completion of nitrogen purging, the pressurization of the rocket's propellant tanks and the continued topping of cryogens. Approximately 150 seconds before T-0, the star-like ISS itself passed directly above Baikonur.
A minute prior to liftoff, the Soyuz-FG systems transferred to internal power and at T-10 seconds the engine turbopumps attained full speed. By five seconds, the engines of the core and tapering boosters roared to life and quickly reached full power. This produced a retraction of the fueling tower and a liftoff into the darkened Baikonur sky at 3:01:14 a.m. local time Monday, 24 November (4:01:14 p.m. EST Sunday, 23 November). Rising rapidly, the rocket exceeded 1,100 mph (1,770 km/h), within a minute of clearing the tower, and at T+118 seconds the tapering boosters were jettisoned, leaving the core stage alone to continue the boost into low-Earth orbit. By the two-minute mark, Shkaplerov, Virts and a broadly smiling Cristoforetti had surpassed 3,350 mph (5,390 km/h) and, shortly thereafter, the escape tower and launch shroud separated, exposing the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft to the near-vacuum of the rarefied high atmosphere. Terry Virts could be seen offering a thumbs-up to his terrestrial audience in one of the in-cabin views at this time.
Four minutes and 47 seconds after leaving the desolate steppe of Central Asia, the core booster was jettisoned at an altitude of 105.6 statute miles (170 km) and the third and final stage ignited, accelerating the Soyuz stack to a velocity of more than 13,420 mph (21,600 km/h). The only minor issue which cropped up was "a slight G-load and shaking", although this was reportedly considered "normal". By the time the third stage separated, just less than nine minutes into the flight, the crew entered an orbit of about 125 x 160 miles (200 x 260 km), inclined 51.6 degrees to the equator, and began the process of deploying their craft's communications and navigation antennas and electricity-generating solar arrays. This deployment process was reportedly complete shortly after 4:12 p.m. EST Sunday.
The Expedition 42 crew, from left, consists of Yelena Serova, Barry "Butch" Wilmore, Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Soyuz TMA-15M new arrivals Anton Shkaplerov, Terry Virts and Samantha Cristoforetti. Photo Credit: NASA
Four maneuvering "burns" will be required to raise the apogee of this orbit to reach the operational altitude of the ISS. The first burn (DV-1) should occur 45 minutes into the mission, after which a second burn (DV-2) is timed at 90 minutes after liftoff. These will be followed by another pair of burns, later in the rendezvous sequence, which should position Soyuz TMA-15M for docking at the space station's Earth-facing (or "nadir") Rassvet module at 9:53 p.m. EST Sunday, about five hours and 52 minutes into the flight. Should anything go awry to prevent any of the steps of the "fast rendezvous" from taking place—such as the software glitch which blighted the early stages of Soyuz TMA-12M in March 2014—the mission will revert to a "default", two-day approach profile. This would produce a docking at Rassvet on the evening of Tuesday, 25 November.
Following standard pressure and leak checks, the hatches will be opened and the trio will be greeted by the incumbent Expedition 42 crew of Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and his crewmates, Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Yelena Serova. At the time of the Soyuz TMA-15M docking, the ISS will also accommodate two unpiloted visiting craft: Russia's Progress M-25M and Europe's fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5). The six crew members will work together until mid-March 2015, whereupon Wilmore, Samokutyayev and Serova will return to Earth and Virts will take command of the ISS to inaugurate Expedition 43. His crew will be augmented back up to a full six-person strength later that month, when Soyuz TMA-16M launches to orbit with Russian cosmonauts Gennadi Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly.

Copyright © 2014 AmericaSpace - All Rights Reserved

Crew blasts off for International Space Station
10:10 AM Monday Nov 24, 2014

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) " A Russian capsule carrying three astronauts from Russia, the United States and Italy has blasted off for the International Space Station.
The Soyuz capsule roared into the pre-dawn darkness just after 3 a.m. Monday (2100 GMT Sunday) from the Russian manned space facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Aboard the capsule are Russian Anton Shkaplerov, NASA's Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy.
The craft will dock with the space station about six hours after launch, where they will join three others already aboard. Those include Russian Elana Serova, and Cristoforetti's arrival will make it the second time in the station's 16-year history that two women have been aboard on long-term missions.

Copyright © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Multi-national crew blasts off for space station
By Irene Klotz

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International Space Station (ISS) crew Anton Shkaplerov of Russia matches palm with his daughter Kira …
By Irene Klotz
A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan on Sunday to deliver three new crew members to the International Space Station, including Italy's first female astronaut.
A Soyuz capsule holding incoming station commander Terry Virts, with the U.S. space agency NASA, Soyuz commander Anton Shkaplerov, with the Russian Federal Space Agency, and first-time flier Samantha Cristoforetti, with the European Space Agency, lifted off at 4:01 p.m. EST (2101 GMT).
They were slated to reach the station, which flies about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth, less than six hours later.
The station, owned an operated by a partnership of 15 nations, serves an orbiting laboratory for life science, materials research, technology development and other experiments that take advantage of the unique microgravity environment and vantage point of space.
"I think that 100 years from now, 500 years from now, people will look back on this as the initial baby steps that we took going into the solar system. In the same way that we look back on Columbus and the other explorers 500 years ago, this is the way people will look at this time in history," Virts said.
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International Space Station (ISS) crew Terry Virts of the U.S. gestures during a space suit test at …
The $100 billion research laboratory has been short-staffed since Nov. 9 when Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, European astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA's Reid Wiseman returned home after 5.5 months in orbit.
The crew faces a busy six-months in orbit, including a trio of spacewalks to prepare the station for a new fleet of U.S. commercial space taxis that are due to begin flying crew to the station in late 2017.
Cristoforetti, 37, an Italian Air Force pilot, deflected questions about becoming Italy's first female astronaut during a webcast prelaunch press conference from Kazakhstan on Saturday.
"I have done nothing special to be the first Italian woman to fly to space. I just wanted to fly to space and I happen to be the first," Cristoforetti, who was speaking in Russian, said through a translator.
When asked by a reporter if she planned wear cosmetics in space, Cristoforetti looked confused, then replied, "Maybe you should ask Terry. Maybe he wants to take some makeup with him."
(Reporting by Irene Klotz in Cape Canaveral, Fla.; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Copyright © 2014 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

November 23, 2014, 4:55 PM
Soyuz rocket streaks into orbit with three bound for station
ByWilliam Harwood CBS News

Russia's Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of U.S. astronaut Terry Virts, Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency's Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti blasts off from the launch pad at Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome late on November 23, 2014. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
Braving near-zero temperatures, a workhorse Soyuz rocket carrying a crew of three -- a veteran cosmonaut, a NASA shuttle pilot and an Italian fighter pilot making her first space flight -- vaulted into orbit Sunday, kicking off a six-hour rendezvous with the International Space Station.
Launching almost directly into the plane of the station's orbit, Soyuz TMA-15M commander Anton Shkaplerov, flanked on the left by European Space Agency flight engineer Samantha Cristoforetti and on the right by NASA astronaut Terry Virts, lifted off from complex 31 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:01:14 p.m. EST (GMT-5; 3:01 a.m. Monday local time).
Trailing a brilliant plume of fiery exhaust, the Soyuz booster quickly climbed away from launch complex 31, knifing through low clouds and disappearing from view as the crackling roar of its first-stage engines thundered across the sprawling space center.
Live television from inside the TMA-15M command module showed Shkaplerov, strapped into the center seat, calmly monitoring cockpit displays and providing status reports to flight controllers. All three crew members appeared relaxed in the cramped cockpit, tightly strapped into their custom-contour seats as the booster accelerated toward orbit.
"Everything's fine on board, everything's nominal," Shkaplerov radioed.
The space station passed 260 miles above Baikonur a few moments before liftoff and commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore reported he was able to see the Soyuz as it climbed out of the clouds more than 500 miles behind and below the lab complex.
The rocket's four oxygen-kerosene-powered strap on-boosters shut down and fell away about two minutes after liftoff, followed three minutes later by shutdown of the second stage core booster. The third stage engine then ignited, the second stage fell away and the Soyuz continued the climb to orbit.
Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, right, monitors cockpit displays during the climb to orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Commander Anton Shkaplerov is strapped into the spacecrart's center seat, to Cristoforetti's right. NASA flight engineer Terry Virts is out of view to the commander's right.
NASA TV
Eight minutes and 45 seconds after liftoff, the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft separated from the upper stage, its two solar panels unfolded and navigation antennas deployed, setting the stage for a carefully planned series of rocket firings, over four orbits, to close the gap with the space station.
"Congratulations one more time on the successful insertion, but still you have a lot of work ahead of you," a Russian flight controller radioed. "So it's not time to relax yet."
"Copy," Shkaplerov replied.
"All right, talk to you later."
If all goes well, Shkaplerov and his crewmates will dock at the station's Earth-facing Rassvet module around 9:53 p.m. After the docking system locks the Soyuz in place, and after extensive leak checks to verify a tight seal, hatches will be opened and the crew will be welcomed aboard by Wilmore, Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova.
Launched to the station Sept. 25, Wilmore, Samokutyaev and Serova have had the lab to themselves since Nov. 9 when Maxim Suraev, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman returned to Earth aboard their Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft.
With the arrival of the TMA-15M crew, the focus of station operations will shift back to a full slate of research activity and preparations for a series of spacewalks next year to prepare the lab for dockings by new commercial crew ferry craft now under development in the United States.
"The mission we'll be doing on the space station is going to be very busy," Virts said before launch. "We're going to be primarily focused on maintaining the station safely, keeping it running and leaving it a better place than when we (arrived).
"But of course, the mission of the space station is science, and we have a very aggressive science program, roughly 170 U.S.-based experiments, NASA and U.S. companies and private educational institutions, and over 70 other international experiments. So there's a lot of science we'll be doing."
In addition, Virts and Wilmore plan to carry out three spacewalks in late January and early February to help prepare the station for the installation later in the year of two docking adapters that will allow the new commercial spacecraft to link up with the lab complex.
During two spacewalks, or EVAs, Virts and Wilmore plan to install cables to route power and data to the docking ports. During the third excursion, they plan to install communications gear needed by approaching crew ships and carry out maintenance on the station's robot arm.
"The main task for the first spacewalks that are scheduled will be to get the station ready to receive capsules," Virts said. "Our task on Expedition 42 ... will be to lay the wiring down, the cables on the outside of the station that will allow the docking ring to work for the capsules. Getting the docking system going is a big part of our spacewalks."
As for the robot arm and its critical internal grapple system, "it's getting a little sticky" after a decade in orbit, Virts said, "so we're going to have to go out and put some grease on it."
Along with research and spacewalk preparations, Virts said he was especially looking forward to spending time in the multi-window cupola compartment his shuttle crew helped install in 2010.
"Looking at Earth is the most powerful drug you can imagine," Virts said. "You just can't get enough of it, and that's kind of all you want to do. Not only Earth, but also looking out into space. I'm sure I'll be spending my time looking at everything. And there are so many amazing things to see, thunderstorms in the Amazon and central Africa, you just can't get enough of that, especially at dawn, because then you can see both the clouds and the lightning."
Shkaplerov agreed, saying "everyone knows being an astronaut is a dangerous profession, but it is definitely very interesting, it is so worth it. Everything becomes worth it once you're able to see the Earth from the window of the space station."
Serova is the first female cosmonaut assigned to a long-duration flight aboard the station. A half dozen female NASA astronauts have lived aboard the complex during the 14 years it has been staffed by rotating crews, but Cristoforetti is the first woman assigned to a long-duration flight by the European Space Agency.
A veteran fighter pilot and a captain in the Italian air force, Cristoforetti holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering, has expertise in aerospace propulsion technology and more than 500 hours flying time in a variety of military aircraft. But going into space is "the fulfillment of a dream I've had since I was a child," she said.
"I think what's most fascinating is the experience as a whole," she said. "This whole experience of, in just a few years, turning from somebody who was very passionate about space and tried to read about space and had a lot of knowledge as an enthusiast, and then turning that person into somebody who's actually ready to fly to space, to live and work in space ... hopefully I'll be able to do that."
Asked about the significance of being the first Italian woman to fly in space, Cristoforetti said it was just the luck of the draw and that she did not attach any special significance to her selection.
"I have done nothing special to be the first Italian woman to fly into space, I just wanted to fly to space and I just happened to be the first," she said. "If I had done everything the same, if I had worked as hard, and if I had had the chance of becoming an astronaut, and if I had been the second, to me it would have been the same.
"I understand this may well have significance for people who see this, and it can be an inspiration for women in Italy and Europe. And obviously, I'm very happy about that."

© 2014 William Harwood/CBS News