Space Cover #291: Italian astronauts on C76As many who know me are aware, my primary collecting interest is First Day Covers for the 1969 First Man on the Moon postage stamp, #C76. The stamp was designed by my father Paul Calle, so the subject is very personal, and what better topic than Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins and the Apollo 11 moon landing!
Over the years I have sought out #C76 covers signed by astronauts, employees of NASA, aviators, politicians, actors and anyone who seemed appropriate to the theme, interesting, fun or unique. Notably my two favorite signed #C76 covers are one signed by aviator Charles Lindbergh, and the other signed by my boyhood sports hero San Francisco Giants baseball superstar Willie Mays. There is an interesting story behind each of these covers. Ask me next time you see me...
The two covers here have been 12 years in the making!
Many years ago through this wonderful space collecting hobby I became friends with Umberto Cavallaro, an Italian collector and founder of AS.IT.AF, the Italian Astrophilately Society. In one of our email exchanges I mentioned my #C76 collection and how I am always on the lookout for interesting new material and thinking about who I would like see signing a First Man on the Moon First Day Cover. Umberto came up with the idea of having each of the Italian astronauts sign, which I thought would be a brilliant addition to the collection and one that he thought he could accomplish for us. And so the quest began.
The idea seemed almost easy because in 2012 Umberto was organizing to put all five Italian astronauts on a train trip from Turin to Rome to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the space shuttle flight of the first Italian astronaut, Franco Malerba. Five at once, this was going to be great! The program was changed and unfortunately the trip did not happen. Umberto however was confident that we could still make the signed covers happen.
The first signer was Paolo Nespoli (who became an ASITAF Honorary Member alongside Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham and myself). Nespoli first launched into space as a mission specialist aboard space shuttle Discovery's STS-120 mission. His next flight was in December 2010 aboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft as an Expedition 26/27 flight engineer. Nespoli's third spaceflight was in July 2017 aboard Soyuz MS-05, Expedition 52/53.
A few days later the covers were signed by Umberto Guidoni, Maurizio Cheli and Franco Malerba at a space event.
Malerba in 1977 was chosen by the European Space Agency (ESA) as one of four European payload specialist candidates for the first Spacelab mission. Malerba flew as the first Italian citizen in space on space shuttle Atlantis' STS-46 mission in 1992.
Cheli, an Italian Air Force officer, flew aboard space shuttle Columbia's STS-75 in 1996 as a mission specialist.
Guidoni is an Italian astrophysicist who made his first spaceflight aboard the space shuttle Columbia with Cheli. In 2001, Guidoni participated in the space shuttle's STS-100 mission, becoming the first European on board the International Space Station.
Roberto Vittori was the first Italian astro-cosmonaut since he flew on Soyuz TM-34 in 2002, and on Soyuz TMA-6 in 2005. The third time he flew was a mission specialist aboard NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour's final flight, STS-134 in 2011.
When Umberto Cavallaro met Vittori in Italy in 2015, unfortunately he did not have the covers with him. Vittori was living in Washington DC at the time which made it difficult to predict when a signing would be possible but he eventually succeeded.
The other signers are:
Luca Parmitano, a colonel in the Italian Air Force, was assigned as a flight engineer to Expedition 36/37, which launched aboard Soyuz TMA-09M on May 28, 2013. His second space mission was Soyuz MS-13, also designated ISS flight 59S, launched on July 20, 2019.
Samantha Cristoforetti, who launched to the international Space Station on November 23, 2014, aboard Soyuz TMA-15M. she spent 199 days in space and at the time became the holder of the record for the longest single mission for a woman. Her second spaceflight was on the fourth mission of NASA's Commercial Crew program, SpaceX's Crew-4 mission aboard SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that launched on April 27, 2022.
Walter Villadei was the mission pilot aboard Axiom Mission 3, a private spaceflight mission to the International Space Station. The flight launched on January 18, 2024 on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
posted 02-02-2025 12:28 PM
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