The ceremony was attended, among others, by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Among the institutional figures present at the event were the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Air Squad General Paolo Magro, and the President of the Italian Space Agency, Roberto Battiston. The initiative will celebrate the European Semester during the Futura mission of ESA astronaut and Air Force Officer Samantha Cristoforetti, who will be undertaking the second Italian long-duration mission. The presence of representatives from the Air Force and the Italian Space Agency highlights a cooperation that has been developing for years, with the aim of leveraging the country's expertise in the field of human spaceflight.
The coin will arrive on board the International Space Station (ISS) with the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) module “Georges Lemaitre”. As explained by Major Luca Parmitano, an ESA astronaut, the ATV is a spacecraft funded by the ESA and built by Italy, necessary to resupply the ISS with water, air, food, fuel, spare parts, scientific equipment, and at the same time, to contribute to the station's orbital support.
The interventions highlighted the need, within the framework of the European Community, for initiatives aimed at enhancing the excellences and beauties of our country. In this context, it was emphasised how the Aerospace sector, metaphorically, allows us to “throw the dice beyond the Earth's borders” and symbolically provides foresight and continuity to the programmatic lines of the Presidency's term.
Minister Padoan highlighted how, from 1 July 2014, the start date of this new institutional cycle at the Council of the EU, those programmatic lines aimed at stabilising the economy will be valued and pursued and’to follow the path taken and already shared at European level”so as to“increase the due and deserved weight of the Country System, which is already recognised by the other Member States“From this perspective, the cooperation between the Air Force and the ASI in the aerospace and astronautic sector is testament to the institutional synergies that can and must be achieved: on the one hand, the Air Force, which provides the country with a team of operational Italian astronauts and cosmonauts, such as Colonel Roberto Vittori, Lieutenant Colonel Walter Villadei, in addition to the aforementioned Major Luca Parmitano and Captain Samantha Cristoforetti, and on the other, the joint development activities for experimentation aboard the International Space Station.
