ASI

Synonyms

Agenzia Spaziale Italiana; Italian Space Agency

Definition

The Italian Space Agency was established in 1988 to coordinate all of Italy’s efforts and investments in the space sector that had begun in the 1960s. Today, ASI has a key role at the European level where Italy is the third contributing country to the European Space Agency.

Italy is directly involved in major European and international programs. It provides several elements for the International Space Station like the multipurpose logistic module (MPLM) used to transfer cargo with the US space shuttle, Nodes 2 and 3, and is participating within ESA in the European Automated Transfer Vehicle activities. ASI selected five astronauts flying either through bilateral cooperation or through ESA. Franco Malerba was the first Italian in space in 1992 onboard the STS 46 flight. Italy is involved also in many missions dedicated to planetology, astronomy, and exploration. It is playing a major role in the Cassini-Huygens mission,...