Volare Highlights
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano's first mission to the International Space Station
Volare is the name of the first long-duration mission of Italy's ASI space agency, with ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano of Italian nationality. Luca was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on a Soyuz rocket with Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg. He served as flight engineer on the Station for Expeditions 36 and 37 and was the first of ESA’s new generation of astronauts to fly into space.
Volare was ESA’s fifth long-duration Space Station mission. Luca took part in around 20 ESA experiments covering many scientific areas, from human physiology and biology to fluid physics and materials science.
Launch: 29 May 2013 02:31 local time (28 May 20:31 GMT, 22:31 CEST)
Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Spacecraft: Soyuz TMA-09M Olympus
Expedition: 36/37
Docking: 6 hours after launch at 02:17 GMT (04:17 CEST)
Landing: 11 November 2013 02:49 GMT (03:49 CET)
- 3 years of training
- 2 spacewalks
- 3 supply spacecraft
- 166 days in space
