Colonel Walter Villadei: “Italy returns to space”. Ax-3 mission ready
Tomorrow, at 11.11 pm Italian time, the Axiom Space missioncode “Voluntas”, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida which some still call by the old name of Cape Canaveral which is very reminiscent of the unforgettable chronicles of Ruggero Orlando.
The carrier will be a Falcon 9 Space X rocket by Elon Musk and after 36 hours the capsule will bring the crew of four astronauts including the Colonel Walter Villadei of the Air Force. This is the eighth Italian astronaut, the last mission was that of Samantha Cristoforetti in 2022 while the first was Franco Malerba in 1992.
For 14 days the four crew members will perform scientific experiments aboard the ISS.
The soldier declared: “This mission is very important for Italy. It is a great opportunity to involve industries from the scientific community and institutions in this new chapter of space exploration.”
Its specific task will be to test a newly developed flight suit and test space debris monitoring software along with the effects of the space environment on astronauts.
And then again: “I can't wait to leave. I feel like a bit of a pioneer, we are opening new paths for future missions in orbit and towards the Moon”.
The colonel then expressed his opinion desire that young people can be increasingly involved in the space epic: “This is why I immediately joined 'School Project, space for your future'”, initiative of the Ministry of Education with Aeronautics and Asi. It's amazing to see how much talent it's there in our students, we just need to motivate them and make them participate in the great adventure of space. In addition to the fascination of exploration, today we look a lot at what space research can produce for daily life.”
The so-called boomers remember with nostalgia the golden age of space exploration, the 60s when at the end of the century it was conquered the Moon.
Involving young people in science and specifically in astronautics it is fundamental for our country for the repercussions, as the colonel rightly said, that will be had in the industrial sector. An opportunity for example, as we have said, to test the new entirely Italian suit and software which will allow us to tackle the serious problem of space debris which increasingly threatens the safety of the Earth.
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