Cheli, Maurizio (1959– )

Italian astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA). He flew on the space shuttle Columbia launched in February 1996 to carry out experiments with the tethered satellite system (the Italian satellite was lost when the tether broke). His other flight was in October 2000 to the International Space Station, helping expand it and prepare it for the first resident crew. He logged 36 days in space with four space walks totalling more than 26 hours before leaving the space programme. Maurizio was selected by the ESA in 1992, as one of the second group of European astronauts.