ESA's Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, the Italian Air Force's official pilot, the first Italian to inhabit the ISS by beating the European record of well-known 199 days in the space, has joined 16 'taikonauti' Chinese for a training nine days survival at sea, off the coastal city of Yantai, China.
With Samantha also the German astronaut Matthias Maurer participated in the training mission and the ultimate goal of this mission is that "an astronaut Esa can fly on the Chinese space station", informs the European Space Agency. "The training was superbly planned and conducted. It was a great opportunity to revive my skills and a first time in practicing the exit from the capsule in the ocean with adequate waves ", commented Cristoforetti. And for Samantha "even more important" is that "we were welcomed as colleagues and friends by the 'taikonauti' and by the instructors." "Linguistic and cultural differences are obviously a challenge, but also an added value, as we are all concentrated on the common objective of space exploration "added the Italian astronaut who already speaks five languages: in addition to Italian, English, French, German and Russian. While this is the first time that Esa astronauts have trained in China, it is not the first collaboration between the ESA and China. Last year the taikonauta Ye Guangfu took part in the course of the European Spelunking Space Agency in Sardinia to experience an extreme environment as part of a multicultural crew. Technically, the training of Cristoforetti and Maurer in China is linked to the complex maneuvers back to Earth after a mission in orbit. Returning from space, explains the ESA, astronauts must be prepared for every eventuality, including landing in the water. "Survival at sea is fundamental in training but this is the first time that other astronauts have joined their Chinese counterparts" the Agency reports. Working in groups of three, the astronauts wore pressurized suits and entered a fake Shenzhou capsule that was then released to the sea. The astronauts had to change their flight suits with floating and floating suits before jumping into inflatable boats. They then conducted rescue procedures with both a ship and a helicopter. "The reception was warm. We have truly felt the spirit of belonging to a single universal family of astronauts, sharing the same values, objectives and visions ", commented the German astronaut of ESA Matthias Maurer. "The language was, as expected, the only most challenging obstacle, which we passed with great enthusiasm and team spirit, speaking a mixture of Chinese and English," he said. Accompanying Samantha and Matthias were a flight doctor and a training specialist, to explore the different cultural settings and nuances. "I see this as a further milestone in establishing good cooperation with China as a space partner," emphasizes Esa's head of training astronauts, Rudiger Seine. Both activities, recalls the European Space Agency, derive from the 2015 agreement to strengthen the collaboration between the ESA and the China Manned Space Agency, with the aim of flying a European astronaut on the Chinese space station, whose launch is expected in the 2022. Meanwhile, other training opportunities and joint activities are in the pipeline to get to know each other better anticipates the European space body. The course was organized by the China Astronaut Center in collaboration with the Beihai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport.