Italian astronaut at Rice to screen ISS film

Rice alum Peggy Whitson, left, and Paulo Nespoli aboard the International Space Station in 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA and the Italian Space Agency

Astronaut Paolo Nespoli, a member of Expedition 52/53 to the International Space Station (ISS), will appear at the Rice Media Center Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m. for the free screening of a documentary about his training for and participation in the mission.

The film, “Expedition,” directed by Alessandra Bonavina, who will also be at the screening, focuses on the training astronauts undertake, the experiments and the experience of living on the space station. Nespoli, who represents the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency, has spent more than 300 days in space as part of three missions, including one aboard space shuttle Discovery in 2007.

Nespoli served on the ISS last year with Rice alumna Peggy Whitson ’86, an adjunct associate professor of biochemistry and cell biology who holds the record for the most time spent by an American in space. He returned to Earth last December.

Nespoli and Bonavina will participate in a question-and-answer session after the screening.

The film is presented in conjunction with Rice’s Smalley-Curl Institute, the Consulate General of Italy in Houston and the Rice Space Institute.