On 20th July 2019, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano will be launched to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will be his second mission to orbit.

Born in 1976, Luca Parmitano was in the Italian Air Force before joining ESA in May 2009. As a test pilot he has logged more than 2000 hours flying time on more than 40 types of aircraft.

As an ESA astronaut he was flight engineer between May and November 2013 for the Italian space agency's first long-duration mission on the ISS.