Who knew that this small region in the middle of northern Italy would be so involved in the current aerospace industry? In fact, Italy has been integral to NASA and ESA’s efforts for years! Italy is responsible for manufacturing the majority of parts on the International Space Station, something we learned while visiting the University of Bologna’s aerospace and mechanical engineering department.
Growing up in Houston, I didn’t hear about any space agencies other than NASA until high school, but there are so many other people and countries involved in the space programs that we know today. Take a look at the Italian cube-sat that I took a picture of!
P.S. – Italy even has its own space agency (ASI) in addition to the EU based agency!
That visit has been one of my favorites so far! I was amazed by the micro-rockets they had