'From the mundane to the sublime in a second': Samantha Cristoforetti on life in space

Her 200 days in orbit turned the first female Italian astronaut into a celebrity - and the model for a Barbie doll. Back on Earth, she says, it was hard to find authentic relationships

There's something surreal about talking to someone who's been to space. Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti might be at home in Cologne while I'm Zooming her from London - but there's still an awareness: those eyes have seen what only a handful of people will ever see. Those hands have been without gravity travelling at 28,000 kilometres an hour.

Loved ones gave Cristoforetti trinkets to take to the space station, where she spent 200 days between November 2014 and June 2015. The way she sees it, the rationale is that not many things have ever been to space and you're going to see a picture of it floating in front of Earth - it's a symbolic meaning, added value".