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 tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

of the

Italian Air Force The Italian Air Force (; AM, ) is the air force of the Italy, Italian Republic. The Italian Air Force was founded as an independent service arm on 28 March 1923 by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, King Victor Emmanuel III as the ("Royal Air Force ...

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

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

University of Naples Federico II The University of Naples Federico II (; , ) is a public university, public research university in Naples, Campania, Italy. Established in 1224 and named after its founder, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, it is the oldest public, s ...

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 Galactic 01, previously referred to as Unity 23, was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS ''Unity'' which launched on 29 June 2023. The launch was the first commercial spaceflight for Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic Hol ...

mission. In January-February 2024, he spent 18 days at the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

as part of

Axiom Mission 3 Axiom Mission 3 (or Ax-3) was a private spaceflight to the International Space Station. The flight launched on 18 January 2024, and lasted for 21 days, successfully splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. It was operated by Axiom Space and used a ...

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 tra ...

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 (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

and " Tor Vergata" 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 NATO, 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, t ...

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 (; 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 entities who are active in aerospac ...

. In 2021, he was selected to fly into space on the Virgin Galactic Unity 23 flight on a

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

. 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 Space, is an American privately funded space infrastructure developer headquartered in Houston, Texas. Founded in 2016 by former CEO Michael T. Suffredini and Kam Ghaffarian, the company first flew a spa ...

. 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) was a private crewed spaceflight operated by Axiom Space. Ax-2 was launched on 21 May 2023 on a SpaceX Falcon 9, successfully docking with the International Space Station (ISS) on 22 May. After eight days docked to t ...

, and was assigned as pilot on

, 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