Franco Malerba
Italian - (ASI)
Retired
Date of Birth: Oct. 10, 1946
Age: 79
Franco Egidio Malerba (born 10 October 1946 in Busalla, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy) is an astronaut. He was the first citizen of Italy to travel to space. 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 (31 July 1992 to 7 August 1992).
Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-46
National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of AmericaKennedy Space Center, FL, USA
July 31, 1992, 1:56 p.m.
Smart Dragon 3
Unknown Payload
South China Sea (launch location 3) - Haiyang Oriental SpaceportPossibly an Earth observation satellite for the Pakistan government's SUPARCO, details TBD.
Falcon 9
Starlink Group 17-34
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USAA batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Falcon 9
Starlink Group 17-33
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USAA batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Long March 2F/G
Chinese Reusable Space Vehicle
Launch Area 91 (SLS-1 / 921) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China4th flight of the Chinese spaceplane capable of returning to Earth.
Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Kosmos (Unknown Payload)
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian FederationUnknown classified payload(s) for the Russian military.
