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Franco Malerba

Franco Egidio Malerba
Malerba.jpg
ASI Astronaut
Nationality Italian
Born (1946-10-10) October 10, 1946 (age 70)
Busalla, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria, Italy
Other occupation
Member of the European Parliament
Time in space
7d 23h 15m
Selection 1989 ESA Group
Missions STS-46
Mission insignia
Sts-46-patch.png

Franco Egidio Malerba (born October 10, 1946, in Busalla, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy) is an astronaut. He was the first citizen of Italy to travel to space.

Married to the former Marie-Aude Némo. They have one child. Recreational interests include mountaineering, skiing, and tennis. He is fluent in Italian, English, and French.

Founding Member of the Italian Space Society.

Reserve Officer, Marina Militare. Served in 1974-75 (Sottotenente Armi Navali); was assigned to the Destroyer San Giorgio as Science Lecturer to the Naval Academy, and then to the Mariperman Technical Center in La Spezia working on ELF transmission systems.

Obtained scuba diving license from the Calypso Scuba Club, Geneva (1984).

Obtained Private Pilot License (College Park, Washington, D.C., 1973) and then the equivalent Italian flying license.

After selection in 1989 as a Payload Specialist by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and NASA, he became a staff member of ASI and was assigned to the NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, for training. In September 1991, he was designated Prime Payload Specialist for the TSS-1 Space Shuttle mission. Malerba flew as the first Italian citizen in space on STS-46 (July 31, 1992 to August 7, 1992). He is now involved with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) manned space flight program follow-on activities.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.


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