Luca Parmitano
European Space Agency
Luca Parmitano (born 27 September 1976 in Paternò, Sicily) is an Italian engineer and astronaut in the European Astronaut Corps for the European Space Agency (ESA). The astronauts work on missions at the International Space Station. He was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009. Parmitano is also a Lieutenant Colonel and pilot for the Italian Air Force. Parmitano is the youngest astronaut to undertake a long-duration mission, at 36 years and eight months old on the launch day of his mission.
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NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik (left) and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano view progress on the solid rocket booster integration in High Bay 3 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. Bresnik, Parmitano, and NASA astronauts Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, and Bob Hines made […]
Technicians joined the Orion crew and service modules together on July 30, 2026, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew module will carry and sustain NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Andre Douglas, and Frank Rubio, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, while the service […]
What did space have in store for Europe this month? This June, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano was named pilot of NASA's Artemis III mission, Ariane 6 set a new European launch record, Proba-3 returned to operations, ESA satellites detected early signs of El Niño, Euclid unveiled its most detailed view yet of the Milky Way's galactic centre, and Sophie Adenot reached the halfway point of her εpsilon mission aboard the International Space Station.
The European Space Agency’s decision to assign Luca Parmitano to its first Artemis crew slot marked a departure from a November 2025 announcement that the opportunity would go to Germany, with the Italian astronaut’s test pilot background proving decisive. In October 2020, ESA and NASA signed an agreement that would provide three flight opportunities for […] The post Italy Skips Crew Allocation Queue Thanks to Astronaut’s Test Pilot Experience appeared first on European Spaceflight.