The launch has been rescheduled for 11:49pm on Thursday 18 January private space mission Axiom (Ax-3). After a day of waiting in view of the departure, initially scheduled for yesterday, the initiative of the SpaceX company was postponed. The crew will remain on the International Space Station (ISS) for 14 days, a period in which the astronauts will carry out innovative experiments also by Italian companies: from telemedicine to clothing.

The Falcon 9 launcher and the Crew Dragon shuttle from Space On board there will be the Italian pilot Walter Villadei, colonel of the Italian Air Force, the Swedish Marcus Wandt of the European Space Agency, the first Turkish astronaut Alper Gezeravci, in command Michael Lopez-Alegria, ex-Nasa today in Axiom Space.

"Our country, in the past, had a fundamental role in the construction of the ISS, but today we are at a turning point: private individuals are starting to enter as protagonists. In this panorama, Italy can and must maintain a strong presence and not it can do it without industry. From this point of view, the mission is a bit of a test bed" for Italy, underlined Villadei.