Europe needs to "raise its level of
ambition" for greater autonomy in human space travel, Italian
European Space Agency astronaut and commander of the
International Space Station (ISS) Samanta Cristoforetti said on
Tuesday.
This is both for the purposes of economic growth and for
geopolitical positioning on the international stage added
Cristoforetti, speaking at a ceremony in Milan to receive the
2022 ISPI prize for her contribution to strengthening Italy's
global image.
The advent of private individuals in human spaceflight is
marking "a momentous change," she said.
For the last 20 years, "astronauts have never had to write a
check to buy flights, which instead have been accrued by Italy
and Europe by virtue of their contributions to the ISS
programme".
Now, however, with the ISS programme likely to end in 2030 and
the advent of new private space stations, "we risk going back 20
years, to when we as Italy also had to buy flights", warned
Cristoforetti.
"So should we not raise the level of ambition to have a more
autonomous capacity to access space? Do we want to remain
passengers, or do we want to start being players?" she asked.
"An ambitious human space exploration programme can be
revolutionary not only for the flights of astronauts, but also
for the broader influence it can have in terms of peace,
security, cooperation, prosperity, industrial capacity and
inspiration for young people, " concluded Cristoforetti.
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