Maurizio Cheli

Who is Maurizio Cheli?

Maurizio Cheli is an Italian air force officer, a European Space Agency astronaut and a veteran of one NASA space shuttle mission.

A native of Modena, Cheli attended the Italian Air Force Academy and trained as a test pilot at the Empire Test Pilots' School, England, being awarded the McKenna Trophy as the best student on his course. He studied geophysics at the University of Rome La Sapienza and earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Houston. He then trained with the United States Air Force and was selected as an astronaut candidate by the European Space Agency in 1992. He holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Italian Air Force. He flew aboard STS-75 in 1996 as a mission specialist.

That same year he joined Alenia Aeronautica, and two years later he became Chief Test Pilot for combat aircraft. His last test program was for the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Maurizio Cheli has more than 380 hours of space activity and more than 4500 flying hours on more than 50 different aircraft types.

He is married to fellow former ESA astronaut Marianne Merchez.