Collectively known as Crew-4, Samantha and her colleagues returned in Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom, which undocked autonomously from the Station on 14 October 2022 at 18:05 CEST. After completing a series of deorbit burns, Freedom entered Earth’s atmosphere and deployed its parachutes for a water-landing off the coast of Florida on 14 October at 22:55 CEST.

Crew-4 was launched to the Station on 27 April 2022 and spent nearly six months living and working in orbit as members of ISS Expedition 67.

As part of her Minerva mission, Samantha supported numerous European experiments and many more international experiments in microgravity. She will now fly directly to Cologne, Germany, where she will be monitored by ESA’s space medicine team as she readapts to Earth’s gravity at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) and the German Aerospace Centre’s (DLR) ‘Envihab’ facility.

It is currently foreseen that Samantha will arrive in Cologne at 16:00 CEST, 15 October.

A limited number of media may attend the return of Samantha at the airport, and there may be a short Q&A with Samantha when she disembarks from the aeroplane.

The arrival of Samantha and the Q&A on the tarmac will be recorded by ESA and made available on ESA channels as soon as possible. A news conference will follow a few days after Samantha’s return.

Please contact us via media@esa.int for more information.

https://www.esa.int/About_Us/EAC/How_to_reach_us

https://blogs.esa.int/forms/esa-media-briefing-form/ .

Samantha will not be available for individual interviews after the news conference.

Please note that all media representatives joining us at EAC must be fully vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19. This is a condition for access and will be checked. We ask for your understanding regarding the even stricter ESA European Astronaut Centre rules as health and safety of our astronauts shortly after a mission is a top priority.

Also, for media wishing to attend in person we kindly ask media teams to restrict their numbers as much as possible as places are limited. During the event, medical or FFP-2 face masks must be worn by all and at all times when inside.

The news conference will be streamed at esawebtv.esa.int, but only registered media will be able to ask questions (in English, Italian and German) via a dedicated WebEx platform.

ESA article in full:

ESA - Memories of Minerva – Samantha Cristoforetti returns to Earth

Upcoming events are posted on the launch and events calendar at www.esa.int/newsroom.

Contact

If you have further questions, please contact media@esa.int.

Further information

Information on Samantha and the Minerva mission can be found on the ESA mission webpage www.esa.int/minerva.

A Minerva mission brochure is also available in English and Italian.

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Search?SearchText=Minerva&result_type=images

Terms and conditions for using ESA images:
www.esa.int/spaceinimages/ESA_Multimedia/Copyright_Notice_Images

For questions or more information related to ESA images, please contact directly spaceinimages@esa.int.

Samantha Cristoforetti Mission B-Rolls

Samantha Cristoforetti Training B-Rolls

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos

Terms and conditions for using ESA videos:
https://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions

For questions or more information related to ESA videos, please contact directly spaceinvideos@esa.int.

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Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int

For further information:

ESA Newsroom and Media Relations Office – Ninja Menning

Email: media@esa.int

Tel: +31 71 565 6409