“Do not make the celebrities you see on TV or books perfect, but find your heroes among the people you meet in everyday life”: this is the appeal to the youth of the astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti The European Space Agency, in contact from the International Space Station with the Città della Scienza in Naples to answer questions from students and teachers assembled at an event on the future of the space sector, promoted by the Italian Space Agency, ESA and Idis- Citta della Scienza Foundation. “AstrosamanthaFlattered and amazed that being defined by one of the students as a “patriot, idol and role model”, she immediately brought everyone back to Earth, despite being in orbit at an altitude of 400 km.

“It’s always dangerous to put people on too high a pedestal,” said the smiling astronaut. “I think I have done some good things in life, but at the same time I am a human being like everyone else, full of limitations and flaws. I think it is important to realize, when we admire someone, that every human has lights and shadows. We try to learn from the people who We admire what they can give us, but without thinking that they are idols. Otherwise we run the risk of thinking that distant people, on TV or in books, are idealists, and perhaps this leads us to underestimate the people we really meet in our lives, face Face to face, and from whom we can learn a lot, because perhaps they are exceptional people.”