Recensione in arrivo, abbiate pazienza.

Samantha Christoforetti had already stolen the hearts of millions of Italians before she published this book. Since then, after the publication in English, she has also stolen mine.

I’m still at a loss for words, because it feels as though I experienced the selection, the training, the launch, the station and above all the cupola, the place she loves the most. I created an emotional bond with people I will never meet, I rejoiced in sights I might never see.

Thank you, Samantha, for taking me with you on your journey. I especially loved the literary quotes along the way.

“Mountains rest, outgloried by the stars -
but even there, time’s transition glimmers.
Ah, nightly refuged in my wild heart,
roofless, the imperishable lingers”

Samantha Cristoforetti has written one of the best astronaut autobiographies. It is an impressive and often moving look at an astronaut's training and flight experiences for a mission to the International Space Station.

Premesso che adoro ogni cosa che abbia a che fare con lo spazio e che come Astrosamantha sono anch'io un trekkiano fanatico.

Lei è pilota (capitano) dell'Aeronautica Militare italiana. Con tutto il rispetto, il suo "animo" militare si vede anche nella sua prosa, asettica coma una comunicazione via radio.
In tutte le parti in cui le informazioni che trasmette sono state per me una novità, di questa sua prosa da laboratorio o da cockpit non me ne sono neanche accorto, devo essere sincero.
Ma tutte le volte in cui mi arrivavano informazioni già note (non così raramente) o lei si lasciava andare ad un po' di fantasia (di cui, da brava milite, sembra parecchio carente) la noia colpiva con l'impeto di un atterraggio in Kazakistan...

Tutto il ricavato lo devolve all'Unicef, e questo non si può non dire.
Ma in taaanti punti ho fatto davvero fatica. Era la mia "samanthepam"... ;)

The first half of this book was a real slog for me - I kept saying "I would have loved this book as a teenager." At this point in my life, I crave fewer technical details and more human interaction and contact - and she is so relentlessly positive about everyone she encounters, you do not get a sense of conflict or of the real personalities of anyone else. I wanted to know more about how she developed a long-term relationship while training to be an astronaut.

But when Soyuz took off with her on it and after that on the Space Station - it was utterly fascinating. The last half of the book really flowed for me, and in the end I am really glad I read it.