This is what it feels like to live in outer space

The diary entries of Samantha Christoforetti give readers a glimpse of life on the ISS and the tense build-up to her first trip into space. — ESA/NASA/Alexander Gerst/dpa

“The sun is setting, signalling the end of my first orbital day. I catch a glimpse of the Milky Way; I recognise Cassiopeia. There is something so poignant about contemplating it from up here, from inside this metal box, this not particularly cutting-edge bundle of technology that allows us to be here where no human being should ever be.”

This is an excerpt from the diary of astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, now being published with Penguin after she spent 200 days on the International Space Station, longer than any other European.