Walter Villadei

Last updated
Walter Villadei
Walter Villadei.jpg
Born (1974-04-29) April 29, 1974 (age 49)
Rome, Italy
Space career
Time in space
21 days, 15 hours, 54 minutes and 50 seconds
Missions Galactic 01
Axiom Mission 3
Military career
Allegiance Italy
Service/branch Italian Air Force

Walter Villadei (born April 29, 1974) is an Italian military officer. [1] He graduated from the Academy of the Italian Air Force in Pozzuoli and holds a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Naples Federico II and a specialization in astronautical engineering from the University of Rome. He was trained as a cosmonaut in Russia. He first flew to space in June 2023 on the Galactic 01 mission. In January-February 2024, he spent 18 days at the International Space Station as part of Axiom Mission 3.

Career

Villadei began his career in 1998 at the 46th Aerial Transport Brigade in Pisa, where he worked on aircraft maintenance and several operational deployments abroad until 2003. He was then assigned to the Air Staff in Rome, within the Office of Advanced Technologies and UAV Programs. He earned a master's degree in satellites and orbital platforms in 2005 and represented the Air Staff on the Space Programs Defense Committee (technical level). In 2011, he was assigned to the new Space Policy Office established within the 3rd Department of the Air Staff. In 2014, he was appointed by the Presidency of the council as the national delegate to the European Commission for support and monitoring of space. [2]

In 2008, Villadei began his initial spaceflight training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. [3] In 2012, he received his full cosmonaut wings, and in 2015, he completed his advanced pre-assignment training, earning qualifications as a Soyuz flight engineer, user of the Russian segment of the International Space Station, and extravehicular activity operator. [4]

Villadei is also a regular lecturer at the Sapienza University of Rome and "Tor Vergata" on "Experimentation in Space" and "Space Systems." He graduated from the Senior Courses of the NATO Defense College in 2017.

Since September 2017, Villadei has been the head of the "Space Policy and Operations" office in the General Directorate of Space of the Air Staff. He is also a member of the scientific committee of the Italian Space Agency.

In 2021, he was selected to fly into space on the Virgin Galactic Unity 23 flight on a SpaceShipTwo. [5] The mission was later renamed Galactic 01.

In 2022, he was selected for training in Houston to prepare for a future space flight with Axiom Space. [6]

The same year, as part of an agreement between Axiom Space and the Italian Ministry of Technological Innovation and Digital Transition, Walter Villadei was selected as a back-up crew member for Axiom Mission 2, and was assigned as pilot on Axiom Mission 3, launched on January 18 2024. [7] He spent 21 days in space, returning 9 February 2024 when Axiom Mission 3 splashed down into Atlantic Ocean.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space tourism</span> Human space travel for recreation

Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michel Tognini</span> French test pilot, engineer, airman and astronaut

Michel Ange-Charles Tognini is a French test pilot, engineer, brigadier general in the French Air Force, and a former CNES and ESA astronaut who served from 1 January 2005 to 1 November 2011 as head of the European Astronaut Centre of the European Space Agency. A veteran of two space flights, Tognini has logged a total of 19 days in space. Tognini has 4000 flight hours on 80 types of aircraft. He is fluent in English and Russian.

Spaceflight participant is the term used by NASA, Roscosmos, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for people who travel into space, but are not professional astronauts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimiya Yui</span> Japanese pilot and astronaut (born 1970)

Kimiya Yui is a Japanese astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). He was selected for the agency in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleksandr Samokutyaev</span> Russian cosmonaut

Aleksandr Mikhailovich Samokutyaev is a Russian politician and former cosmonaut. Samokutyaev served as a Flight Engineer for the International Space Station (ISS) long duration Expedition 27/28 missions. He also served as the Soyuz TMA-21 commander. He most recently served on the Soyuz TMA-14M Expedition 41/42 crew aboard the ISS. He was hired as a cosmonaut in the summer of 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael S. Hopkins</span> NASA astronaut, and Colonel in the U.S. Space Force

Michael Scott "Mike" Hopkins is a United States Space Force colonel and a former NASA astronaut. Hopkins was selected in June 2009 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 20. He made his first spaceflight as a Flight Engineer on Soyuz TMA-10M/Expedition 37/Expedition 38, from September 2013 until March 2014. He is the first member of his astronaut class to fly in space. Hopkins is the first astronaut to transfer to the U.S. Space Force, participating in a transfer ceremony on the International Space Station. Prior to his transfer, he served over 27 years in the United States Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew R. Morgan</span> American astronaut

Andrew Richard "Drew" Morgan is a NASA astronaut from the class of 2013.

The article provides an overview of the entire chain of command and organization of the Italian Air Force as of 1 January 2018 and includes all currently active units. The Armed Forces of Italy are under the command of the Italian Supreme Defense Council, presided over by the President of the Italian Republic. The Italian Air Force is commanded by the Chief of the Air Force General Staff or "Capo di Stato Maggiore dell’Aeronautica Militare" in Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soyuz MS-20</span> 2021 Russian crewed spaceflight to the ISS

Soyuz MS-20 was a Russian Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) on 8–20 December 2021. Unlike previous Soyuz flights to the ISS, Soyuz MS-20 did not deliver any crew members for an ISS Expedition or serve as a lifeboat for any crew members on board the station. Instead, it was commanded by a single professional cosmonaut and carried two space tourists represented by company Space Adventures, which had executed eight space tourism missions to the ISS in 2001–9. The flight to reach the ISS took six hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axiom Mission 2</span> 2023 private crewed spaceflight to the ISS

Axiom Mission 2 was a private crewed spaceflight operated by Axiom Space. Ax-2 was launched on 21 May 2023 on a SpaceX Falcon 9, successfully docking with the International Space Station (ISS)on 22 May. After eight days docked to the ISS, the Dragon crew capsule Freedom undocked and returned to Earth twelve hours later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galactic 01</span> 2023 American crewed sub-orbital spaceflight

Galactic 01, previously referred to as Unity 23, was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity which launched on 29 June 2023. The launch was the first commercial spaceflight for Virgin Galactic. A research mission for the Italian Air Force, the crew consisted of pilots Michael Masucci and Nicola Pecile as well as crew members Colin Bennett, Walter Villadei, Angelo Landolfi, and Pantaleone Carlucci. The flight was postponed from its original planned October 2021 flight date for Virgin Galactic to upgrade its SpaceShipTwo vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX Crew-6</span> 2023 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS

SpaceX Crew-6 was the sixth crewed operational NASA Commercial Crew flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the ninth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission launched on 2 March 2023 at 05:34:14 UTC, and it successfully docked to the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 March 2023 at 06:40 UTC. The Crew-6 mission transported four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Two NASA astronauts, a United Arab Emirates astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut were assigned to the mission. The two NASA astronauts are Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg. The cosmonaut, Andrey Fedyaev, was reassigned from Soyuz MS-23. Sultan Al Neyadi was the Commander of the United Arab Emirates' mission on the flight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axiom Mission 3</span> 2024 private crewed spaceflight to the ISS

Axiom Mission 3 was a private spaceflight to the International Space Station. The flight launched on 18 January 2024, and lasted for 21 days, successfully splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. It was operated by Axiom Space and used a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Expedition 70</span> Current ISS Expedition

Expedition 70 is the 70th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-23 on 27 September 2023 with Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen taking over the ISS command from Expedition 69 cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev. It will end on with the departure of NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara on Soyuz MS-24 in 2 April 2024.

References

  1. "Walter Villadei". astronaut.ru (in Russian). 29 January 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022..
  2. "Spazio: concluso in Russia addestramento di sopravvivenza in mare del T.Col. Villadei". Aeronautica Militare (in Italian). 26 October 2019..
  3. "Italian Air Force: captain Villadei qualified "Flight engineer" on the Soyuz". avionews.it. 13 March 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2022..
  4. "Spazio: concluso in Russia addestramento di sopravvivenza in mare del T.Col. Villadei". Aeronautica Militare (in Italian). 26 October 2019..
  5. "Virgin Galactic Announces First Commercial Research Mission". Virgin Galactic . 2 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  6. "Axiom Space to train Italian Air Force's Col. Walter Villadei as professional astronaut for future space mission". Axiom Space . 11 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  7. "Axiom Space and Italian Government Sign Historic MOU to Expand Commercial Utilization of Space". Axiom Space . 25 May 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2022..