She's a Captain in the Italian Air Force, the first Italian woman in space, the record holder for longest single mission on the International Space Station (ISS) of any European astronaut and now she's experienced the LaFerrari first hand.
In a recent trip to Maranello, Samantha Cristoforetti, better known as "AstroSamantha," took a tour of Ferrari's headquarters with two fellow crewmates from the Futura Mission to the ISS, American Terry Virts and Russian Anton Skaplerov, as well as representatives from the Italian Air Force, Italian Space Agency and European Space Agency. Sergio Marchionne, Chairman of Ferrari, acted as their guide, taking them through the Classiche Department, 12-cylinder assembly line and New Mechanical Machining Department. The leaders of rocket-powered exploration were treated to ground-based engineering excellence, and as an Oct. 8 press release from Ferrari shares, they were impressed; "Terry Virts probably said it best in a single word: 'Wow!'." Cristoferetti returned from a 200-day stay at the ISS on June 15, when it was confirmed that she "set a new duration record for a single mission for ESA [European Space Agency] astronauts, Italian astronauts and all female astronauts." Considering the fact that the ISS travels at an average speed of 17,150 mph, she'd become accustomed to high velocity action. So, of course, enjoying Dario Benuzzi taking the LaFerrari around the Fiorano Circuit was like being back on familiar ground.
