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by Andrea Bettini 13 April 2019On 20 July 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps on the moon. Fifty years later, on the day when the whole world will celebrate the Apollo 11 venture, three men will leave the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, headed for the International Space Station. Among them there will also be ESA Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano.

The date of 20 July 2019 was certainly not chosen at random. The roar of the Soyuz rocket and the wake it will draw as it rises in the sky will be a special way to celebrate the conquest of the Moon. The launch will certainly be followed with emotion throughout the world.

Initially the launch of Parmitano and his two companions, the Russian Alexander Skvortsov and the American Drew Morgan, was scheduled for 6 July. The new date was announced by NASA in a press release .


Luca Parmitano is 42 years old and was born in Catania. For more than five months he will be involved in the European Space Agency's Beyond mission. This will be his second experience in space and will also play the role of commander of the International Space Station, an honor never before an Italian. We now know that he will also have the privilege of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the conquest of the Moon by flying into space.