Guidoni Credit: www.spacefacts.de |
Status: Inactive; Active 1989-2004. Born: 1954-08-18. Spaceflights: 2 . Total time in space: 27.63 days. Birth Place: Rome.
Educated Rome.
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Rome, Italy, 18 August 1954.
EDUCATION: Umberto Guidoni graduated from Classic Liceum 'Gaio Lucilio' in Rome in 1973. He received a science degree in Physics and Doctorate in Astrophysics (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Rome in 1978. He was then granted a post doctoral fellowship in plasma physics at the Thermonuclear Research Center of CNEN until 1980.
FAMILY: Married to Mariarita Bartolacci of Milan, Italy; one son. His parents, Mr. Pietro Guidoni and Giuseppina Cocco-Guidoni, reside in Rome, Italy.
RECREATIONAL INTERESTS: Swimming, volleyball, classical music.
ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the Italian Space Society (ISS).
MILITARY STATUS: Reserve Officer of the Italian Air Force.
EXPERIENCE: In 1982, Umberto Guidoni joined as a staff scientist the National Energy Committee and in 1983, he worked in the Solar Energy Division of the National Committee for Renewable Energy (ENEA) where he developed new techniques to characterise solar panels.
In 1984, he became a permanent researcher of the Space Physics Institute (IFSI-CNR) and was co-investigator in the Research on Electrodynamic Tether Effects (RETE) experiment, one of the payloads selected for the Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1).
From 1985 until 1988, Umberto Guidoni designed Ground Support Equipment (GSE) and supervised the design and testing of the Data Processing Unit (DPU) for the RETE experiment. He also collaborated on the development of the IFSI plasma chamber for laboratory simulations of electrodynamic tether phenomena and characterisation of plasma contactors in ionospheric environment.
In 1988, he was appointed RETE Project Scientist, with responsibility for the integration of the experiment with the Tethered Satellite System (TSS).
In 1989, Umberto Guidoni joined the Astronaut Office of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) as one of two Italian scientists selected by ASI to be trained as payload specialist for the US Space Shuttle's TSS-1 mission. In 1991, he was relocated to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA, to train for the TSS-1 flight on board the STS-46 mission. In 1992, having completed his training as Alternate Payload Specialist, he assisted the science team for on-orbit operations at the Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) for the duration of the STS-46/TSS-1 mission (31 July - 8 August 1992).
In 1995, he was selected for his first spaceflight as a payload specialist representing ASI on STS-75/TSS-1R. The 16-day mission, (22 February - 9 March 1996), featured the second deployment of the Tethered Satellite System. It successfully demonstrated the ability of tethers to produce electricity despite the tether breaking after reaching a distance of 19.7 kilometres from the Space Shuttle, just short of the 20.7 kilometre goal. Scientists were able to devise a programme of research making the most of the satellite's free flight while the astronauts' work centered on orbital investigations using the US Microgravity Payload.
Guidoni was a member of the 1996 Mission Specialist International Class at the NASA Johnson Space Centre. Having successfully completed the training, in April 1998, he worked in the Astronaut Office Robotics Branch for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
In August 1998, Umberto Guidoni joined ESA's single European astronaut corps, the homebase of which is ESA's European Astronaut Centre located in Cologne, Germany.
SPECIAL HONOURS: NASA Space Flight Medal.
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT: In February 1999, Umberto Guidoni has been nominated for his second spaceflight, named STS-102, scheduled for April 2000 and will be the first European on board the International Space Station. During the mission, the US Space Shuttle will transport up to 10 tons of laboratory racks filled with equipment, experiments and supplies in specially-designed Multipurpose Logistics Module (MPLM) mounted in its cargo bay. That module, called Leonardo, is the first of three such carriers built by ASI, the Italian Space Agency under an ASI-NASA agreement.
September 1999
The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.
Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. 10 pilots and 25 mission specialists selected from over 2,400 applicants. 9 additional international astronauts.
Carried TSS-1R tether satellite; satellite tether broke during deployment, making TSS-1R an unintentional free flyer
Payloads: Tethered Satellite System (TSS) Reflight (1R); Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE) (part of United States Microgravity Payload 3); USMP-3; Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG) 09, Block IV; Middeck Glovebox Experiment (MGBX) (part of USMP-3). During the deployment of TSS, the tether broke and the satellite was lost.
The International Space Station has become home to its new residents - the Expedition Two crew of Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms - who are settling in for a four-month stay after assuming command of the complex 10 days ago. Additional Details: here....
Space Shuttle OV-105 Endeavour was launched on mission STS-100 to carry out International Space Station Flight 6A continued the outfitting of the Station. The crew of four Americans, one Russian, one Canadian and one Italian were to install an 18 meter, 1,700 kg Canadian robotic arm named Canadarm-2 on the ISS, and to transport an Italian cargo container, Raffaello, which delivered 4,500 kg of supplies and equipment to the station. Total payload of 13,744 kg consisted of:
On 23 April the SSRMS station manipulator was unberthed from the SLP Spacelab pallet at 1114 GMT and latched on to the PDGF fixture on the Destiny ISS module at 1416 GMT. This was followed at 1458 GMT with the MPLM-2 Raffaello module being moved from Endeavour's payload bay by the Shuttle's RMS and berthed to the nadir port on the ISS Unity module at 1600 GMT. Over the next few days, the cargo racks on the MPLM were transferred to Destiny. Raffaello was then unberthed from Unity at 2003 GMT on April 27 and reberthed in the rear of Endeavour's bay for return to earth at 2059 GMT.
Undocking of Endeavour was delayed by a series of computer problems at the Station. Failures in the Station's command and control computers left only one of the three computers operating.
They were all restarted by April 29, and the Shuttle RMS grappled the Spacelab pallet at 2044 GMT . The station's Canadarm-2 released it at 2106 GMT, and the RMS berthed the pallet back in the Shuttle cargo bay. Endeavour undocked from the Station at 1734 GMT on April 29. The weather in Florida was bad at the planned May 1 landing time, so Endeavour landed in California. The deorbit burn was at 1502 GMT on May 1, with landing at 1610:42 GMT on runway 22 at Edwards. Endeavour returned to the Kennedy Space Center atop a Boeing 747 SCA aircraft on May 9.
The crew of the shuttle Endeavour worked this morning to prepare for its Saturday docking with the International Space Station and for the two planned spacewalks while there. The chase to catch up with the waiting station and its Expedition Two crew continues with another in the series of rendezvous maneuvers scheduled for about 5:30 this morning. Additional Details: here....
With Commander Kent Rominger at the controls, Endeavour gently docked with the International Space Station this morning as the two spacecraft flew 243 miles over the southern Pacific Ocean, just southeast of New Zealand. Docking occurred at 8:59 a.m. central time. Additional Details: here....
Space Shuttle Endeavour and its seven crewmembers began rendezvous preparations shortly after 3 a.m. today, which should culminate in an 8:32 a.m. docking to the International Space Station, which will be northeast of Hong Kong at an altitude of 240 miles. The shuttle is bringing an advanced robotic arm, experiments and supplies to the ever-growing science outpost. Additional Details: here....
Now docked to the International Space Station, Endeavour and its seven-member crew are preparing for the first of two planned space walks set to begin about 6:20 this morning to install the orbiting outpost's Canadian built robotic arm. Called Canadarm2, the high-tech robotic arm is the most versatile ever flown in space. Additional Details: here....
The Italian Space Agency-provided Raffaello logistics module, loaded with 1,600 pounds of material to be returned to Earth, was tucked securely in Endeavour's payload bay at 3:58 p.m. Central time today as the International Space Station and shuttle flew high over the Pacific Ocean, north of Indonesia. Additional Details: here....
Weather permitting, Endeavour and its crew of seven will return to the Kennedy Space Center tomorrow morning, concluding a successful mission to install a new-generation robotic arm on the International Space Station, and a journey of more than 4.8 million miles. In preparation for tomorrow's landing opportunities, Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Jeff Ashby and Flight Engineer John Phillips verified the performance of Endeavour's flight control systems and surfaces and steering jets. Additional Details: here....
A replacement Soyuz spacecraft successfully docked to the International Space Station early Monday, providing the station crew with a new "lifeboat" should an unexpected return to Earth become necessary. The docking occurred at 2:58 a.m. as the station orbited over south-central Russia near the Mongolian border. Additional Details: here....
With the Kennedy Space Center reporting cloud cover, showers and gusty winds and with forecasters calling for more of the same today and tomorrow, flight controllers began focusing on bringing Endeavour home to a landing at Edwards Air Force Base later today. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour and its crew of seven glided to a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California today, touching down at 11:11 a.m. central time, concluding a successful mission to install a new-generation robotic arm on the International Space Station, and a journey of more than 4.9 million miles. Additional Details: here....