In May 1988, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) was founded with the aim of coordinating the Government’s projects and investments in this sector, started in the mid-1960s.
Nowadays, ASI plays a crucial role within the European Space Agency and collaborates with international counterparts, including NASA, on several scientific researches and space missions. Among them was the establishing in 1998 of the International Space Station, that so far has hosted six Italian astronauts and will soon be home to the first Italian woman in Space.
In November 2014, Samantha Cristoforetti, a Captain in the Italian Air force and ESA astronaut since 2009, will enter the ISS on the occasion of Expedition 42/43, also known as mission “Futura”.
Together with Anton Shkaplerov from Russia and Terry Virts from the U.S.A., the Milanese fighter-pilot will remain in Space for almost six months and partake in different experiments mainly relating to human survival and life in Space. She is currently completing her training and intends to pay great attention to nutrition and exercise while in the ISS, in order to mitigate as much as possible the inevitable stress that Space travel causes to the human body.
Samantha’s mission will mark another important achievement in the history of Italian’s Space activity, reaffirming our country’s presence and commitment in the international arena. But besides prestige, Space investigation also represents an economic opportunity for Italy to seize in collaboration with public and private stakeholders.
In particular, ASI is involved in key research fields such as – just to name a few – Space exploration by building scientific instrumentation; Earth observation programs like Cosmo-SkyMed aimed at predicting and preventing environmental catastrophes; the development of navigation and communication satellite systems, including Galileo to be launched at the end of 2014; rocket propulsion with the expendable launch system VEGA<span>; and=”” high-energy=”” astrophysics=”” with <=”” span=””>AGILE satellite to observe gamma-ray sources in the Universe. </span>;>
In over 20 years, ASI has also promoted scientific and institutional conferences, workshops, exhibitions, and other events aimed at disseminating information on Italy’s endeavors and future prospects in Space.
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