He was born in Milan on April 6th, 1957 and has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics Sciences. He was selected in 1998 by the Italian Space Agency. His first mission was the ASI STS-120, known as Esperia, which started in October 2007 and aimed at carrying and attaching the “Node-2” module, manufactured in Italy, to the International Space Station. Afterwards, he was the first Italian astronaut to take place in a long-term mission. Such European Space Agency mission is known as MAGISSTRA and started on December 20th, 2010, aboard the Soyuz TMA-20. He came back to space in 2017 for an ASI long-term mission, known as VITA, still aboard the Soyuz MS-09. He’s currently the man who spent most time in space at an European level, with his 313 days, 02 hours and 36 minutes in space.
