Walter Villadei (born April 29, 1974) is an Italian military officer. He graduated from the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

of the

Italian Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello , mascot = , anniversaries = 28 March ...

Pozzuoli Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. History Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia'' ( el, Δικα ...

and holds a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the

University of Naples Federico II The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

and a specialization in astronautical engineering from the University of Rome. He was trained as a cosmonaut in Russia. He first flew to space in June 2023 on the Galactic 01 mission. In January-February 2024, he spent 18 days at the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

as part of Axiom Mission 3.

Career

Villadei began his career in 1998 at the 46th Aerial Transport Brigade in Pisa, where he worked on aircraft maintenance and several operational deployments abroad until 2003. He was then assigned to the Air Staff in Rome, within the Office of Advanced Technologies and UAV Programs. He earned a master's degree in satellites and orbital platforms in 2005 and represented the Air Staff on the Space Programs Defense Committee (technical level). In 2011, he was assigned to the new Space Policy Office established within the 3rd Department of the Air Staff. In 2014, he was appointed by the Presidency of the council as the national delegate to the European Commission for support and monitoring of space. In 2008, Villadei began his initial spaceflight training at the

Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC; Russian: Центр подготовки космонавтов имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is a Russian training facility responsible for trai ...

in Star City, Russia. In 2012, he received his full cosmonaut wings, and in 2015, he completed his advanced pre-assignment training, earning qualifications as a Soyuz flight engineer, user of the Russian segment of the International Space Station, and extravehicular activity operator. Villadei is also a regular lecturer at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

and "

Tor Vergata Tor Vergata University of Rome, also known as the University of Rome II ( it, Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata"), is a public research university located in Rome, Italy. Located in the southeastern suburb of Rome, the university combine ...

" on "Experimentation in Space" and "Space Systems." He graduated from the Senior Courses of the

NATO Defense College NATO Defense College (NDC) is the international military college for North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. It is located in Rome, Italy. History The idea of a NATO Defense College originated with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the f ...

in 2017. Since September 2017, Villadei has been the head of the "Space Policy and Operations" office in the General Directorate of Space of the Air Staff. He is also a member of the scientific committee of the

Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency ( it, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international enti ...

. In 2021, he was selected to fly into space on the

Virgin Galactic Unity 23 Virgin Galactic Unity 23 is a planned sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS ''Unity'' which is intended to launch in 2023. It is a research mission for the Italian Air Force. The crew will consist of pilots Frederick Sturckow ...

flight on a

SpaceShipTwo The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It is manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic. SpaceShipTwo is ...

. The mission was later renamed Galactic 01. In 2022, he was selected for training in Houston to prepare for a future space flight with

Axiom Space Axiom Space, Inc., also known as Axiom, is an American privately funded space infrastructure developer headquartered in Houston, Texas. Founded in 2016 by Michael T. Suffredini and Kam Ghaffarian, the company first flew a spaceflight in 2 ...

. The same year, as part of an agreement between Axiom Space and the Italian Ministry of Technological Innovation and Digital Transition, Walter Villadei was selected as a back-up crew member for

Axiom Mission 2 Axiom Mission 2 (or Ax-2) is a planned private crew mission to the International Space Station (ISS), operated by Axiom Space. Its first two crew members have been announced in May 2021. In December 2021, NASA confirmed that the mission would f ...

, and was assigned as pilot on Axiom Mission 3, launched on January 18 2024.. He spent 21 days in space, returning 9 February 2024 when Axiom Mission 3 splashed down into Atlantic Ocean.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villadei, Walter Italian Air Force personnel Italian astronauts Italian aviators 1974 births Living people