Samantha Cristoforetti (born 1977) is an Italian
European Space Agency astronaut, former
Italian Air Force pilot and engineer. She holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight by a European astronaut (199 days, 16 hours), and she held the record for the longest single space flight by a woman until this was broken by
Peggy Whitson in June 2017. She is also the first Italian woman in space. She took command of ISS
Expedition 68 on 28 September 2022. This official photographic portrait of Cristoforetti wearing an
Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit was taken in 2013.
Photograph credit: Robert Markowitz