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Italian encounter in space
April will be a month of celebrations on the ISS. 12 April 2011 is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s orbital flight, beginning the human spaceflight era.
Paolo Nespoli will celebrate it in space, and a special meeting with Italian flavour will take place soon after during the STS-134 mission. For the first time, two ESA astronauts of Italian nationality will be at the same time aboard the International Space Station.
Having already spent four months on the Station, Paolo will welcome his ESA crewmate. Together, they will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification as a modern European state. They were both selected by the European Astronauts Corps in 1998 and have trained together for many years.
"I am very excited to meet him in space. He is doing a great job on the International Space Station and I am happy to join him up there for two weeks," says Roberto.
The Italian flag has been handed over to Roberto Vittori by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano. An inflight call to the two astronauts by the Italian President is planned for the mission.
Italy is the third-largest contributor to ESA programmes and the second to the ISS. Italian industry built more than half of the Station’s pressurised volume of the non-Russian segment.
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