Luca Parmitano

He was also the 32nd Wing Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO).

Colonel Luca Parmitano (born 27 September 1976 in Paternò, Sicily) is an Italian astronaut in the European Astronaut Corps for the European Space Agency (ESA).

Parmitano spent a year (1993) as an exchange student at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo, California in the United States with AFS Intercultural Programs.

Parmitano graduated from the Liceo Scientifico Statale "Galileo Galilei" in Catania, Italy, in 1995.

In 1999, he completed a master's degree in political sciences at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, with a thesis on international law.

In 2000, he graduated with Sparviero IV academic course, from the Italian Accademia Aeronautica, in Pozzuoli, Italy.

He has logged more than 2000 hours flying time, is qualified on more than 20 types of military aircraft (both fixed-wing and rotary-wing) and has flown over 40 types of aircraft.

Parmitano completed basic training with the U.S. Air Force at the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas in the United States in 2001.

Following completion of undergraduate pilot training in 2001, Parmitano flew the AMX aircraft with the 13th Squadron, 32nd Wing in Amendola, Italy, from 2001 to 2007.

During that time, he obtained all the qualifications on that aircraft, including Combat Ready, Four Ship Leader, and Mission Commander/Package Leader.

He completed the JCO/CAS course with the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) in Sembach, Germany, in 2002.

In 2003, he qualified as Electronic Warfare Officer at the Reparto Supporto Tecnico Operativo Guerra Elettronica (ReSTOGE) in Pratica di Mare, Italy.

He completed the Tactical Leadership Programme (TLP) in Florennes, Belgium, in 2005.

In 2007 Parmitano was awarded the Medaglia d'Argento al Valore Aeronautico (Silver Medal of Aeronautic Valor) by the President of the Italian Republic after safely landing his AMX in an emergency due to a bird strike.

Asteroid 37627 Lucaparmitano is named after him.

Parmitano is a Colonel in the Italian Air Force and an astronaut of the European Space Agency.

In 2007, he was selected by the Italian Air Force to become a test pilot and qualified as Experimental Test Pilot at EPNER, the French test pilot school in Istres.

He was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009.

Parmitano is also a Colonel and test pilot for the Italian Air Force.

He is the first Italian (and the third European) to command the International Space Station (ISS) during Expedition 61.

Parmitano considers Catania his hometown.

He is divorced and has two daughters with his ex-wife.

He is an active scuba diver and enjoys snowboarding, skydiving, weight training and swimming.

Other interests include reading and listening to and playing music.

In July 2009, Parmitano received a master's degree in experimental flight test engineering at the Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE), in Toulouse, France, as part of the test pilot formation at EPNER, the French test pilot school in Istres.

In May 2009, Parmitano was selected as an ESA astronaut as part of the 2009 class.

Within the 13th Squadron, he served as Chief of Training Section and Commander of the 76th Flight.

In February 2011, he was assigned as a flight engineer to Expedition 36/37 (a long-duration mission to the International Space Station), which launched aboard Soyuz TMA-09M on 28 May 2013 and arrived at the ISS on 29 May.

His mission is called Volare, which means "to fly" in Italian and is reminiscent of a very famous song by the Italian singer Domenico Modugno.

In May 2013 Parmitano partnered with his 15-year-old mentee Abigail Harrison to have her serve as his Earth liaison during his mission on Expedition 36 and Expedition 37.

Harrison shared Parmitano's experience of living in space on the International Space Station with her online community on social media and her blog, where she is known as "Astronaut Abby".

On 9 July 2013, he became the first Italian to take part in a spacewalk as he and Chris Cassidy conducted an EVA out of the ISS' quest airlock to install power cables, retrieve material research samples (MISSE-8) and accomplish a number of maintenance tasks.

During the EVA, Parmitano also got to ride on the ISS' Mobile Servicing System for the installation of a couple of radiator grapple bars previously flown up on SpaceX' CRS-2 mission.

The EVA was part of preparations for the new Russian multipurpose module planned to replace the Pirs docking compartment by the end of 2013.

In 2013, AOL's BermanBraun listed his space selfie taken during this spacewalk as one of the 50 best space photos of the year.

His second EVA on 16 July 2013 was terminated after only 1 hour and 32 minutes, when the helmet of his Extravehicular Mobility Unit suit started filling with water.

In 2014, he became a "cavenaut" serving in ESA CAVES training of the European Space Agency alongside Scott Tingle, Alexander Mirsurkin, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Matthias Maurer.

In July 2015, Parmitano became an aquanaut when he served as commander of the NEEMO 20 crew.

In 2016, Parmitano took part in the first ESA PANGAEA mission, alongside Matthias Maurer and Pedro Duque.

In May 2017, Parmitano took part in the CAVES eXpedition One, carried out in the extreme environments of some hot caves in Sicily.