Encyclopedia Astronautica
Cheli

Cheli
Credit: www.spacefacts.de - www.spacefacts.de

Educated Rome; Houston; ETPS.

NAME: Maurizio Cheli

ESA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born May 4, 1959, in Modena, Italy. Married to the former Marianne Merchez. Her parents, Marcel and Annie Merchez, reside in Brussels, Belgium. He enjoys soccer, cycling, tennis and traveling. His parents, Araldo and Eulalia Cheli, reside in Zocca (Modena), Italy.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Liceo Classico "M. Minghetti" in Bologna in 1978, from the Italian Air Force Academy in 1982, from the Italian Air Force War College in 1987 and from the Empire Test Pilot School in 1988. He studied geophysics at the University of Rome in 1989 received a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Houston.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Distinguished graduate, Fighter lead-in training (1983). Top graduate, Italian Air Force War College (1987). Top graduate, Empire Test Pilot's School (1988).

AWARDS:

Italian Air Force Long Service Medal (1988). McKenna Trophy, Sir Alan Cobham Trophy and Hawker Hunter Trophy, Empire Test Pilot's School (1988).

EXPERIENCE:

After graduation from the Italian Air Force Academy, Cheli underwent pilot training at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, in 1982-1983. Following fighter lead-in training at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico and initial training in the F-104G in Italy, he joined the 28th Squadron, 3rd Recce Wing in 1984. In 1987, he attended the Italian Air Force War College and in 1988 he graduated from the Empire Test Pilot's School, Boscombe Down, United Kingdom. While assigned to the Italian Air Force Flight Test Center in Pratica di Mare, Rome, he served as a Tornado and B-707 Tanker project pilot on a variety of test programs and as display pilot. His flight experience includes more than 3000 flying hours in over 50 different types of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters. In June 1992, he was selected by the European Space Agency as a member of the second group of European astronauts.

Cheli holds a commission as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Italian Air Force.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Cheli reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992 and completed one year of training in August 1993. He is qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle flight crews. His technical assignments to date include: flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL); remote manipulator system/robotics; crew equipment. He flew on STS-75 in 1996 and has logged over 377 hours in space.

Most recently, Cheli was a mission specialist on the crew of STS-75. The principal payloads on STS-75 were the reflight of Tethered Satellite System (TSS) and the third flight of the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-3). The TSS successfully demonstrated the ability of tethers to produce electricity. The TSS experiment produced a wealth of new information on the electrodynamics of tethers and plasma physics before the tether broke at 19.7 km, just shy of the 20.7 km goal. The crew also worked around the clock performing combustion experiments and research related to USMP-3 microgravity investigations used to improve production of medicines, metal alloys, and semiconductors. STS-75 launched February 22, 1996 and landed back at the Kennedy Space Center on March 9, 1996. The mission was completed in 252 orbits covering 6.5 million miles in 377 hours and 40 minutes.

Birth Place: Modena.
Status: Inactive.


Born: 1959.05.04.
Spaceflights: 1 .
Total time in space: 15.74 days.

• Italy Italy More...

• ESA Group 1 - 1992 Requirement: ESA astronauts for Mir, Shuttle, and ISS missions. More...

• Italian Space Agency Group - 1990 Requirement: Italian astronauts for missions aboard Hermes, Mir, and Shuttle. More...

• Mission Specialist Astronaut Astronauts trained for spaceflight but not to pilot spacecraft. More...

• NASA Group 14 - 1992 Requirement: pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights. Nickname: The Hogs. More...

• Test Pilot Category of persons. More...

• STS-75 Crew: Allen Andy, Chang-Diaz, Cheli, Guidoni, Hoffman, Horowitz, Nicollier. Carried TSS-1R tether satellite; satellite tether broke during deployment, making TSS-1R an unintentional free flyer. More...

• Italian AF Italian AF. More...

• STS The Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle) was conceived originally as a completely reusable system that would provide cheap, routine access to space and replace all American and civilian military launch vehicles. Crippled by technological overreach, political compromise, and budget limitations, it instead ended up costing more than the expendable rockets it was to have replaced. STS sucked the money out of all other NASA projects for half a century. The military abandoned its use after the Challenger shuttle explosion in the 1980's. More...

• NASA Astronaut Biographies, Johnson Space Center, NASA, 1995-present. Web Address when accessed: here.

• STS-75 - . Call Sign: Columbia. Crew: Allen, Andy; Chang-Diaz; Cheli; Guidoni; Hoffman; Horowitz; Nicollier. Payload: Columbia F19 / USMP-3 Aft. Mass: 10,592 kg (23,351 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Allen, Andy; Chang-Diaz; Cheli; Guidoni; Hoffman; Horowitz; Nicollier. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: STS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-75. Spacecraft: Columbia. Duration: 15.74 days. Decay Date: 1996-03-09 . USAF Sat Cat: 23801 . COSPAR: 1996-012A. Apogee: 320 km (190 mi). Perigee: 277 km (172 mi). Inclination: 28.5000 deg. Period: 90.50 min. Carried TSS-1R tether satellite; satellite tether broke during deployment, making TSS-1R an unintentional free flyer

  Payloads: Tethered Satellite System (TSS) Reflight (1R); Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE) (part of United States Microgravity Payload 3); USMP-3; Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG) 09, Block IV; Middeck Glovebox Experiment (MGBX) (part of USMP-3). During the deployment of TSS, the tether broke and the satellite was lost.

• Landing of STS-75 - . Return Crew: Allen, Andy; Chang-Diaz; Cheli; Guidoni; Hoffman; Horowitz; Nicollier. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Allen, Andy; Chang-Diaz; Cheli; Guidoni; Hoffman; Horowitz; Nicollier. Program: STS. Flight: STS-75. Summary: STS-75 landed at 13:58 GMT. .