Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio wished female astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti well on Wednesday after she blasted off on her second space mission, which is expected to last around six months.
"Have a good journey Samantha Cristoforetti! We are with you this time too for this important Minerva Mission that will take you back to the International Space Station," Di Maio tweeted.
"The whole of Italy admires and is proud of you," the tweet added.
Cristoforetti and three NASA colleagues are due to reach the International Space Station at 02:15 on Thursday Italian time after taking off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, in the US.
Italy's first woman astronaut, Cristoferetti spent 200 days on the International Space Station in 2014-2015 - the longest space mission by a woman. She was the seventh Italian astronaut to go into space, according to Italy's space agency ASI.
