- Roberto Vittori
Infobox Astronaut
name =Roberto Vittori
type =ESA Astronaut
nationality =Italian
date_birth =birth date and age|1964|10|15
place_birth =Viterbo ,Italy
occupation =Test Pilot
rank =Lieutenant Commander , Italian Air Force
selection =1998 ESA Group
time =19d 18h 47m
mission =Soyuz TM-34 ,Soyuz TM-33 ,Soyuz TMA-6 ,Soyuz TMA-5
insignia =|Roberto Vittori (
Viterbo ,October 15 ,1964 ) is an ESA and Italianastronaut .Career
He graduated from the Italian Air Force Academy in 1989 and trained in the U.S.. He flew the Tornado in the
Italian Air Force before graduating in 1995 from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School atPatuxent River, Maryland . He served at the Italian Test Center as a project pilot for the development of the new European aircraft, theEF2000 . Vittori flew Tornado GR1 aircraft with the 155th Squadron, 50th Wing,Piacenza (Italy ) from 1991 to 1994. During that time, he qualified for day/night air-to-air refuelling as well as a formation leader.He has logged over 1700 hours in over 40 different aircraft includingF-104 ,F-18 , AMX, M-2000,G-222 and P-180.In August 1998, after selection by
ESA to join theEuropean Astronaut Corps , he reported to theJohnson Space Center inHouston, Texas . Following a period of training and evaluation, Vittori served in various technical assignments within theNASA Astronaut Office.Soyuz TM-34
From
April 25 toMay 5 ,2002 , Roberto Vittori participated in theSoyuz TM-34 taxi-flight to theInternational Space Station (ISS), under an agreement between the RussianRosaviakosmos , theItalian Space Agency , ASI and ESA. During his stay aboard ISS he worked alongside the resident crew overseeing four European scientific experiments. The mission successfully delivered a new "lifeboat" to the Station for use by resident crews in the event of an on-board emergency. Vittori returned to Earth aboardSoyuz TM-33 .Soyuz TMA-6
On
April 15 ,2005 , Roberto Vittori participated in a second taxi-flight to theInternational Space Station (ISS),Soyuz TMA-6 , returning to Earth onApril 24 in theSoyuz TMA-5 capsule. He became the first European astronaut to visit the ISS twice and conducted experiments in upper limb fatigue in astronauts and germination of herbaceous plant seeds for possible space nutrition.External links
* [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/vittori.html NASA Biography]
* [http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/international/english/vittori_roberto.htm Spacefacts biography of Roberto Vittori]
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