Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut

"Today I woke up on Earth. And I will fall asleep in space." In space the sun rises and sets sixteen times a day. You fly over every sea, every mountain and desert, every city and every port. The most ordinary things--eating, sleeping, brushing your teeth or cutting your hair--have to be relearned, until they become familiar again. This is the story of Samantha Cristoforetti''s incredible journey to becoming an astronaut, and her journey beyond Earth. Her voyage as an apprentice astronaut began when she was in her early thirties: five years of intense training around the world, from Houston to Japan to the legendary Star City in Russia. Countless hours spent in centrifuges, spaceship simulators, and underwater for spacewalk practice. Then, one day, a rocket was waiting for her on the launch pad. And after eight minutes of wild ascent, she was in orbit, crunched up with her two crewmate