On 18 September 2010, WIA Europe member and European Space Agency astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti, was awarded the prize “Premio Casato Prime Donna” in Tuscany, Italy, for her outstanding activities.

This prize includes a sum of €2000 which Samantha kindly decided to donate to the WIA Europe Mentoring Programme. Samantha’s very generous gift, for which WIA Europe is very grateful, will be used in order to encourage young talents in the pursuit of their careers and to offer them the possibility to have a better visibility in the aerospace community.