Luca Parmitano was born in Paternò, Italy on 27 September 1976, though he considers Catania his hometown. He completed his first six-month Volare mission to the International Space Station in 2013 and returned to space for his Beyond mission in 2019, serving as the third European and first Italian commander of the International Space Station during Expedition 61.
Following completion of undergraduate pilot training in 2001, Luca flew the AM-X aircraft with the 13th Group, 32nd Wing in Amendola, Italy, from 2001 to 2007. During that time, he obtained all aircraft qualifications, including Combat Ready, day/night air to air refuelling, Four Ship Leader and Mission Commander/Package Leader.
Within the 13th Group he served as Chief of Training Section and Commander of the 76th Flight. He was also the 32nd Wing Electronic Warfare Officer.
In 2007, he was selected by the Italian Air Force to become a test pilot. He trained as an Experimental Test Pilot at EPNER, the French test pilot school in Istres.
Luca was promoted to the role of Colonel in the Italian Air Force ahead of his Beyond mission in 2019. He has logged more than 2000 hours flying time, is qualified on more than 20 types of military airplanes and helicopters, and has flown over 40 types of aircraft.
Luca was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009. In February 2011, Luca was assigned as a flight engineer to Italian space agency ASI's first long-duration mission on the International Space Station. He was launched on a Soyuz launcher from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on 28 May 2013.
Luca spent 166 days in space, personally conducting over 20 experiments, and took part in two spacewalks and the docking of four spacecraft during his ‘Volare’ mission. He landed safely back on Earth on 11 November 2013.
Luca was launched to the International Space Station for his second mission in the Russian Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft on 20 July 2019 – the 50th anniversary of the first human lunar landing – and returned 6 February 2020. During this six-month, known as Beyond, Luca supported over 50 European experiments in microgravity, became the first Italian and third European commander of the International Space Station and carried out four spacewalks to service the cosmic ray detecting Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02.
Luca is married with two daughters. In his free time he enjoys weight training, swimming, swimming, biking and running. Other interests include snowboarding, scuba diving and reading as well as listening to and playing music.
In February 2011, Luca was assigned as a flight engineer to Italian space agency ASI's first long-duration mission on the International Space Station. He was launched on a Soyuz launcher from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on 28 May 2013. Luca was launched for a second mission known as Beyond on 20 July 2019. During this mission he became the third European and first Italian in command of the International Space Station.
Posted on Tuesday 19 October 2021 by Luca Parmitano
(English) In August 2021, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and the head of the ESA Climate Office Susanne Mecklenburg joined a science expedition taking place at one of the biggest ice masses in the Alps: the Gorner Glacier. This is part one of Luca's first-hand account of accompanying a scientific team who are documenting how the glacier is changing in response to climate change.
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Posted on Saturday 6 February 2021 by Ally
Désolé, cet article est seulement disponible en English.
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Posted on Thursday 19 March 2020 by Ally
(English) Adrianos Golemis is an ESA flight surgeon based at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. He spent nine months in isolation at Concordia research station and three weeks in quarantine with ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano. He is currently working at a hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece. In this second post of a two-part blog series he helps you use isolation to your advantage.
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Posted on Tuesday 17 March 2020 by Ally
(English) Adrianos Golemis is an ESA flight surgeon based at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. He spent nine months in isolation at Concordia research station and three weeks in quarantine with ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano. He is currently working at a hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece. In this first post of a two-part blog series he gives his tips for life in isolation.
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Posted on Saturday 8 February 2020 by Ally
Watch ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano speak with media at ESA's European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany following his 201-day Beyond mission on the International Space Station. Please note: content is a mix of English and Italian.
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Posted on Thursday 6 February 2020 by Ally
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano is back on Earth after touching down in the Russian Soyuz MS-13 crew module at 09:12 GMT (10:12 CET) Thursday 6 February.
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Posted on Saturday 25 January 2020 by Ally
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan are performing the fourth in a series of complex spacewalks to maintain the cosmic ray detecting Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02 today – 25 January 2020. It is the third spacewalk of 2020, the sixth for Luca and the ninth spacewalk for Expedition 61 crew – the most ever performed during a single expedition.
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Posted on Thursday 23 January 2020 by Ally
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan will exit the International Space Station airlock together for the fourth time Saturday 25 January. It is the ninth spacewalk for Expedition 61 – the most spacewalks ever performed during a single Space Station expedition – and the last in a complex series to maintain the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02.
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