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Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti Joins Axanar Cast

After boldly going on the International Space Station for nearly 200 days, an Italian astronaut has joined the growing cast of fan-film Star Trek: Axanar.

By Flicky Sun 23 Aug, 2015 7:30 PM - Last Updated: Sun 03 Apr, 2016 10:22 PM
After boldly going on the International Space Station for nearly 200 days, an Italian astronaut has joined the growing cast of fan-film Star Trek: Axanar.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Talks between creator and Executive Producer of Axanar, Alec Peters, and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti began in late July. Cristoforetti, who is a long-time Star Trek fan, showed interest in the project and voiced her enthusiasm for appearing in the film. In August, it was confirmed that Cristoforetti would be making an appearance in an as-yet unspecified role. Peters said in a blog post, “as long as we can work out her schedule… [Cristoforetti] would love to have a role in Axanar.”

Cristoforetti gained notoriety in the Star Trek community for tweeting a picture of herself wearing her Star Trek: Voyager uniform from onboard the ISS in April 2015. Cristoforetti holds several spaceflight records, including the longest single spaceflight by a woman and longest uninterrupted spaceflight of a European astronaut, at 199 days, 16 hours. Cristoforetti is also the first Italian woman to go to space, and the first person to brew Espresso in space.

attachment.php?attachmentid=4774&stc=1Astronaut Mae Jemison, from the Space Shuttle Endeavour mission, guest starred as a transporter operator in The Next Generation.
Image Credit: Star Trek The Next Generation
Cristoforetti would not be the only astronaut to appear in a Star Trek-related work. In 1993, NASA astronaut Mae Jemison made an appearance in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Second Chances” as a transporter operator.

The cast of Axanar has been slowly growing since the project’s successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo funding campaigns brought in over $600,000 and $400,000 for the project, respectively. Most recently, it was announced that Garrett Wang, who portrayed Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager, would play the Klingon commander at the helm of the first D7 class battlecruiser. Axanar is currently in pre-production and is scheduled to begin filming in October 2015, with a tentative release in mid-2016.

To stay up to date on the latest news from the Star Trek Axanar team you can visit their website. You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT AN ASTRONAUT APPEARING IN A STAR TREK WORK?

Header Image Credit: Samantha Cristoforetti
WRITTEN BY FLICKY
EDITED BY KRAZIYK
3 Comments
Sun 23 Aug, 2015 11:04 PM
Good! She seems like a great fit, not to mention a Trek fan. Doesn't hurt that she's cute, either. Smile
Mon 24 Aug, 2015 5:33 PM
It's interesting to see great individuals such as this appear in Trek. I hope it'll be a great fit. We shall wait and see. Thanks for the article Flicky!
Tue 01 Sep, 2015 6:19 PM
I love everything about this. Ms. Cristoforetti... Bravissimo !