“It is a great pleasure, it will be accompanied by all the Italians in this further and splendid experience”. This was stated by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, giving Samantha Cristoforetti the Italian flag that he will carry on board the International Space Station (ISS) in the mission scheduled for spring 2022.
The head of state congratulated the Space Agency “for what it does” and which shows how we are “concretely projected into the future”. The Italian astronaut expressed his “immense pleasure” in meeting Mattarella again, who “in these seven years has always been close to us” and underlined his pride in having the “possibility of carrying the Italian flag into space”.
“Handing over the flag is a great pleasure – remarked the President of the Republic – it is in the best hands to show that it will go towards the future”.
Mattarella received Cristoforetti this morning at the Quirinale, with the director general of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, the president of the Italian space agency, Giorgio Saccoccia, and the chief of staff of the director general of ESA, Elena Grifoni Winters.