Maurizio Cheli
| Maurizio Cheli | |
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| Country: | Italy |
| Organization: | ESA |
| selected on | June 1992 |
| Calls: | 1 space flight |
| Begin: | February 22, 1996 |
| Landing: | March 9, 1996 |
| Time in space: | 15d 17h 41min |
| retired on | June 30, 1996 |
| Space flights | |
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Maurizio Cheli (born May 4, 1959 in Modena , Emilia-Romagna region , Italy ) is an Italian air force officer and former astronaut .
Life
After completing a humanistic high school, Cheli attended the Italian Air Force Academy in Pozzuoli near Naples , which he graduated in 1982 as the second best course participant. In the years after, he flew as a pilot combat aircraft of type 104 F "Starfighter" . In 1988 he became a test pilot after graduating from the Empire Test Pilot School in Boscombe Down, UK .
Astronaut activity
From 1992 Cheli worked for ESA , which sent him to the Johnson Space Center in Houston , where he was trained as an astronaut . Cheli also studied aerospace engineering at the University of Houston until 1994 . In 1996 he took part as a mission specialist together with Umberto Guidoni (payload specialist ) in the STS-75 mission, on which, among other things, an Italian tethered satellite was tested.
According to the ESA
After this mission, Cheli returned to Italy and has been working as a test pilot for Alenia Aeronautica ever since . In this role he also tested the first Italian Eurofighters . Cheli has so far achieved a total of 380 hours in space and over 5,000 flight hours on more than 50 different types of aircraft.
On December 11, 2003, Cheli competed in a Eurofighter in a drag race against Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari F-2003 GA Formula 1 car in Grosseto and was finally able to prevail against the German in three runs of different lengths .
Cheli is married to the former Belgian astronaut Marianne Merchez , who was a member of the ESA space corps from 1992 to 1995.
See also
Web links
- Short biography of Maurizio Cheli at spacefacts.de
- Biography of Maurizio Cheli in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cheli, Maurizio |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian astronaut |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 4th 1959 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Modena |