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by Andrea Bettini 16 July 2019 BAIKONUR (KAZAKHSTAN) - Next Saturday, entering the Soyuz shuttle, Luca Parmitano will bring with him the last sensations collected on Earth. It is likely that they relate to the scent of the steppe in summer and the memory of the merciless heat that is enveloping the Baikonur Cosmodrome: over forty degrees in the shade. Under the sun of these days it is difficult to imagine that on his return, in February, this barren and boundless expanse will be immersed in frost.

"Beyond" mission
For the Catania astronaut of the European Space Agency, Colonel of the Italian Air Force, this will be the second experience in orbit. With ESA's "Beyond" mission he will spend about 200 days in the orbiting laboratory covering for three months also the role of commander of the International Space Station (ISS), a first for an Italian, and completing about fifty scientific experiments, six of the such as the Italian Space Agency.

Everything as planned
In Baikonur the heat is not scary: the script that precedes each launch proceeds as planned and is entering the most agitated phases. On the morning of July 18, the positioning of the Soyuz launcher on the launch pad, the next day the final go-ahead of the commission that evaluates the astronauts and the traditional press conference the day before. Saturday, July 20, in the early afternoon, the three protagonists will leave the Cosmonaut Hotel: Luca Parmitano, the American Andrew Morgan and the Russian Alexandr Skvortsov. A few hours later, at 21.28 local time (18.28 in Italy), the departure to the International Space Station.

A special date
To watch the departure of AstroLuca and his companions there will be the whole world because the occasion will be really special. On July 20, the date chosen for the launch will also be the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. In 1969 Baikonur was one of the symbols of the Soviet space program and the Apollo 11 enterprise was certainly not welcomed here. Today everything has changed, collaboration is the norm and the Cosmodrome is the only place from which one can start towards the International Space Station. This time it will be a party here too.