Samantha Cristoforetti was born in Milan, Italy, on 26 April 1977. Between November 2014 and June 2015 she spent 200 days in space on her Futura mission to the International Space Station as a Flight Engineer for Expedition 42 and 43. She was living and working on the International Space Station once again for her Minerva mission between April and October 2022, when she spent another 170 days in space as a mission specialist for Expedition 67 and 68. During this time, she also became the fifth European and the first European female commander of the ISS.