Walter Villadei
Walter Villadei is an Italian Air Force officer, engineer, and astronaut whose flights span suborbital commercial spaceflight and a private mission to the International . His career sits at the intersection of national military space work, commercial providers, and European research access.
- Born
- April 29, 1974
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Rome,Italy
Flights
2
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
21 days, 15 hours, 54 minutes, 50 seconds
Bio
Villadei trained as an aerospace and astronautical engineer and served in the Italian Air Force. Before orbital flight, he worked with international training programs and represented Italy in efforts to build operational human-spaceflight expertise beyond traditional agency corps.
His first spaceflight was Galactic 01 in 2023, a Virgin Galactic suborbital research mission. In 2024 he served as pilot of Axiom Mission 3, flying on Crew Dragon to the International Space Station with Michael López-Alegría, Alper Gezeravcı, and Marcus Wandt.
Villadei's record is useful because it shows how modern astronaut categories are widening. He is not a classic national-agency astronaut in the old sense, but his flights carried research, operational training, and national space objectives.