On Tuesday, February 20, the event was held at the Air Force Palace in Rome. Welcome Back Voluntas to greet and welcome the Col. Walter Villadei, recently returned from the space mission Ax-3 Voluntas, In Italy these days, he will first greet institutions and companies involved in the experiments and representatives of the media before returning to the United States where he will continue with the activities planned after the mission.
They intervened the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General of the Air Force Luca Goretti, who did the honors on behalf of the Italian Air Force, President of the Italian Space Agency, Prof. Teodoro Valente, and numerous institutional guests and representatives of the national and international press.
The event, organized in collaboration with the’Italian Space Agency, He effectively launched the post-flight tour of the Ax-3 Voluntas mission, within the framework of which Col. Villadei – during the three weeks in orbit, of which 18 days were spent aboard the International Space Station – carried out microgravity experimentation with positive repercussions for the entire country, involving universities, research centers and industries to amplify the great national experience applied to space, in operational, medical and technological terms. For Italy, in the year in which sixty years have passed since the launch of the first Italian satellite San Marco-1, the Ax-3 mission represented the enabling trait in the context of a strategic vision that binds together, under Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy (with delegation to Space), the Ministry of Agriculture of the Food Sovereignty and Forests, the Air Force and the ASI, In addition to being a privileged opportunity to continue promoting commitment to secure and effective national access to the Space.
“Welcome back, Walter, on behalf of the entire Italian Air Force. I am truly happy and proud of the success of this mission, which has strategic significance not only for the Air Force but for the entire defense sector, which, together with the other institutional entities in the sector, such as ASI and ESA, can truly provide a significant contribution to the country’s system.”, he declared General Goretti. “The Air Force is moving into space, a natural extension of aerospace power for many reasons, including from a military strategic perspective. We therefore could not resist the challenge of this new branch of the new space economy, embarking on the mission with Axiom and also becoming facilitators of dialogue and cooperation in this field at the European and global level.
This mission not only consolidates a tradition that, as the Air Force and as Italy, sees us as protagonists for sixty years now, but also demonstrates that the country’s institutional and industrial structures, as well as its research centers, are absolutely competitive and can truly make a difference. It also once again confirms the national leadership in an emerging and in full expansion sector. Voluntas is not for nothing the name given to the mission, a demonstration that if there is will, there is success and the aeronautics industry is firmly on board in this achievement, with its eyes and vision always set ahead and towards the future.”, concluded the Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
“The Ax-3 mission is a testament to the role and importance of Made in Italy in space”, he declared Professor Valente in his speech.“It is also confirmation, if there was ever a need for it, of the country’s ability to work as a team and to be at the forefront in a technologically challenging sector. The historical collaboration with the Air Force is being strengthened in this mission, which is also an opportunity to open our sector up even more to the involvement of new important players for the development of the New Space Economy. We are proud to say – concluded the ASI President – That this approach corresponds to a long-term strategic vision that will benefit the entire country. For this new mission to the ISS, ASI has supported and coordinated a large group of researchers and companies, which has developed a set of scientific experiments to help us understand, facilitate, evaluate, and improve the human stay in space. Italy has always played a primary role aboard the International Space Station: about 50% of the pressurized modules were built in our country and, as an agency, we are permanently present on the Station, pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding signed with NASA in 1997, under which we have had the opportunity to host astronauts and access the ISS for experimental activities. The country’s investments in the space sector speak for themselves. With just over 3 billion euros, Italy is the third contributing country for ESA activities, behind France and Germany.”.
“Behind an astronaut flying is a system, and the task of the astronaut is to carry out the program assigned to them, and in this I must say that collaboration with the academic, scientific, and industrial world has been extremely important..”These are the words of the Colonel Villadei during the event. “Training is the fundamental part; it doesn’t start a few months after the flight but starts years before […] Since we started the academy, thanks to the training we receive, we are led to think in a certain way. Then, we familiarize ourselves with an operational environment that, despite the differences between aeronautical flight and space flight, creates the fundamental prerequisites for us to then successfully undertake a space mission.“
Speaking about the Voluntas mission, Colonel Villadei emphasized that: “We have demonstrated that this is a model that works. We have brought together different realities such as those from the military, academia, science and industry. All of them have managed to develop and carry forward an effective, consistent, rich in content, innovative, research program together. This is the fundamental fact that emerges from the mission, this first exercise, this new approach works and functions well.“
“Today space is definitely becoming a context, an environment, a domain where access is facilitated and we will increasingly move in this direction. This new approach also raises important issues in terms of safety, protection, and regulations, and therefore the role that the Air Force and the Defense can play here is crucial to ensuring safe access to space.”He then concluded by saying: “Over the course of’meeting with the President of the Council Yesterday I also had the privilege of sharing this important result: with Voluntas, Italy has formed a team, it has become a mission of Sistema Paese. It was also an important opportunity to strengthen international collaboration. In the AXIOM 3 mission, among my crewmates I had the first Turkish astronaut and the second Swedish astronaut; this was another opportunity to strengthen international collaboration relations, even with many countries that are only now starting to have the opportunity to look out onto the space world. Once again, we have been pioneers, and this has proven that we have historical opportunities and considerable potential that we can express in the coming years.“
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Space, Ax-3: the Voluntas mission was successfully completed
