X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Italian Space Agency


Italian Space Agency

Franco Malerba, Italy’s first astronaut and the only one not to fly as a member of the EAC.

Umberto Guidoni, flew on STS-75 (February 22 to March 9, 1996) as payload specialist on the second Tethered Satellite System mission - TSS-1R.

James M. Kelly

The mission accomplishments included the delivery of the Expedition 2 crew and the contents of the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, the completion of two successful space walks, the return to Earth of the Expedition 1 crew, as well as the return of Leonardo, the reusable cargo carrier built by the Italian Space Agency.


Swiss Museum of Transport

The Pallet, nicknamed Elvis, was used during the 8-day STS-46 mission, 31 July - 8 August 1992, when ESA astronaut Claude Nicollier was on board Shuttle Atlantis to deploy ESA's European Retrievable Carrier (Eureca) scientific mission and the joint NASA/Italian Space Agency Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1).


see also

Luca Urbani

Following candidature by the Italian Space Agency, Urbani was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in May 1995 as an alternate Payload Specialist for the Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) mission, STS-78, and began training for the flight duties of a Payload Specialist Astronaut at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.