Walter Villadei

Italian - (IAF)

Active

Date of Birth: April 29, 1974
Age: 51

Italian Air Force mission commander on the Virgin Galactic 01 flight. Backup pilot for the Axiom Space Mission 2, Pilon for the Axiom Space Mission 3, qualified on Soyuz, ISS systems, and Orlan for EVA activities.

Spaceflight Record

Walter Villadei flew on two previous launch(es).

SpaceShipTwo | Galactic 01

Virgin Galactic | United States of America
Air launch to Suborbital flight
June 29, 2023, 3:28 p.m.

Status: Success

Mission:

Research mission for the Italian Air Force, first commercial Virgin Galactic mission.

Suborbital

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Falcon 9 Block 5 | Axiom Space Mission 3

SpaceX | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Jan. 18, 2024, 9:49 p.m.

Status: Success

Mission:

This is a Crew Dragon flight for a private company Axiom Space. The mission will carry a professionally trained commander alongside three private astronauts to and from the International Space Station. This crew will stay aboard space station for at least eight days.

Low Earth Orbit B1080 - Flight Proven ( ) Landing Zone 1

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The Italian Air Force is the air force of the Italian Republic. The Italian Air Force was founded as an independent service arm on 28 March 1923 by King Victor Emmanuel III as the Regia Aeronautica ("Royal Air Force"). After World War II, when Italy became a republic following a referendum, the Regia Aeronautica was given its current name.

Recent Launches

Long March 7A

Success

5 hours, 24 minutes ago

Yaogan 46

201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Classified Earth observation satellite officially reported as for "national resources/hydrology/meteorology surveying & disaster management" purposes.

LVM-3 (GSLV Mk III)

Success

21 hours, 15 minutes ago

CMS-03 (GSAT-7R)

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

Communications Satellite for the Indian Navy, replacing GSAT-7 for secure real-time links between Indian warships, submarines, aircraft, and shore-ba…

Falcon 9

Success

1 day, 4 hours ago

Bandwagon 4 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)

Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.

Falcon 9

Success

2 days, 12 hours ago

Starlink Group 11-23

Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

Long March 2

Success

2 days, 17 hours ago

Shenzhou 21

Launch Area 4 (SLS-1 / 921) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Tenth crewed flight to the Chinese space station.