Podcast
“The Boss”
How do you as an astronaut in space resolve conflicts in the crew?
The astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is the first woman from Europe to take command of the ISS.
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Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti becomes the first European to work as commander of the ISS. in the star-Podcast “Die Boss” talks about expectations on board and tells how she connects family and career.
She will soon be able to leave again: Samantha Cristoforetti will be the first woman from Europe to take command of the ISS in spring 2022. Her big dream came true seven years ago, when the Italian flew into space for the first time and worked as an astronaut on the International Space Station for several months. “It is a very special place,” she says in Im star-Podcast “The Boss” and tells that she first felt the pain of separation when she returned to Earth. Life on the spaceship is not easy.
“It is a milieu in which self-control is required. If you have the feeling that something is not quite working or when you reach your limits, you are normally expected not to show it,” says Cristoforetti in an interview with host Simone Menne the demands on astronauts: inside. Conflicts within the crew should ideally not arise in the first place or should be resolved quickly. There is a lot of cultural pressure. “It’s amazingly conflict-free up there,” she assures. She does not feel fear. “Because I am familiar with the environment and I simply feel comfortable on spaceships or in airplanes,” says the trained fighter pilot.
The little daughter knows that mom will soon be flying into space
Cristoforetti was selected from over 8,000 applicants for the job at the European Space Agency ESA – as the only woman. Even as a child she was fascinated by space, grew up in the village with lots of freedom and developed a thirst for adventure and self-confidence at an early age. And the mother of two passes this serenity on to her children. “Our boy is still a baby, he has just become one and doesn’t understand any of this. But the older one will soon be five and she always knows that mom will soon be going back into space. She has a very strong relationship with her father. He is her main reference person and we wanted that too, because we knew that I would like to leave for a while. She just thinks it’s kind of cool, “says Samantha Cristoforetti of her family model.
In the podcast, Menne and Cristoforetti talk about why it is important to her as the commander that the crew also have fun together and how she feels about Jeff Bezos and Co.’s space tourism.
In “The Boss – Power is Female”, top women talk to each other: hostess and multi-supervisory board member Simone Menne (including BMW, Deutsche Post DHL, Henkel) meets female bosses from all areas of society to talk to them about their lives and careers. “Die Boss” appears every two weeks on wednesdays on stern.de and the Youtube channel of staras well as on Audio Now and all common podcast platforms.