Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti holds various records, she is the first Italian woman in space, first person to make an espresso in space, and quite possibly the first person who took a selfie with the uniforms of the fictional star-ship enterprise upon, well, an actual space ship, in space.
"There's coffee in that nebula"... ehm, I mean... in that #Dragon. pic.twitter.com/9MYrqIOXnI
— Samantha Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) April 17, 2015
The selfie was taken in 2015 next to a reference to the fictional character Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew, who said on the show: “There’s coffee in that Nebula.” Cristoforetti “corrected” herself in the tweet to say Dragon, the spacecraft built by SpaceX which delivered on that date the first espresso machine to serve humans in space. Cristoforetti, perhaps as a nod to her Italian culture, was picked to be the first person in space to make an espresso. The machine, made by Lavazza, is now on display in Turin in the Lavazza Museum.
She also showed a great deal of support to Jewish-Swedish astronaut Jessica Meir when she reached the International Space Station in late September. Meir, and US astronaut Christina Koch, made history recently when they performed the first all-female space-walk.
This is how it feels when in addition to your childhood dream being fulfilled by arriving to @Space_Station, you’re greeted by your Astro-brothers and sisters on the other side of the hatch. pic.twitter.com/mexDxMdWhd
— Jessica Meir (@Astro_Jessica) September 29, 2019
“This is how it feels when in addition to your childhood dream being fulfilled,” Cristoforetti wrote, “you’re greeted by your Astro-brothers and sisters.”
Cristoforetti had a book published in early September telling of her experiences and her path to fulfill her childhood dreams, though it is currently only available in Italian and German. It is called The long rise in German. Who knows, perhaps a Hebrew edition will be released as well soon?