The Italian mission to the U.S. is organized by ASI, in collaboration with Italian Trade Agency and industry associations AIAD, ASAS and AIPAS
To promote the growth of contacts between American and Italian space industries, as well as to reinforce the long-standing relationships between the Italian Space Agency and NASA. This was the goal of a large number of large companies, SMEs, and start-ups visiting the United States, accompanied by a delegation led by ASI President Teodoro Valente and International Affairs Director Gabriella Arrigo, Science and Research and Programs Directors Mario Cosmo and Roberto Formaro.
Italy and the United States have had a long history of cooperation in the realm of space exploration. Today, relations between Italy and the United States in the field of space are excellent, thanks in part to fruitful collaborations between the Italian Space Agency and NASA, which were recently sealed by the Joint Declaration, last July, between U.S. President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, with which they inaugurated a “new dialogue” in the field of space. With the backing of their respective governments, the purpose is to foster economic and industrial exchange.
The delegation will visit NASA’s Space Centers in Houston and Space X in Los Angeles this week, as well as meet with the top management of several established U.S. companies as well as younger and growing entities, in order to strengthen cooperation and increase industrial collaboration.
A week of meetings and possibilities will culminate with the ASI president’s presence in Washington, where he will meet with NASA, the State Department, the National Space Council, and the White House Office of Science and Technology. Prof. Teodoro Valente, ASI’s number one, will also meet with a number of senators and congressional representatives before paying a visit to Mariangela Zappia, Italy’s ambassador to the United States, who, along with consuls in Houston and Los Angeles, has encouraged and supported the industrial mission, the first concrete act of the ‘new dialogue’ desired by Biden and Meloni.
