STS-75 press kit

Edited by Richard W. Orloff, 01/2001/Page 39
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
Umberto Guidoni (Ph.D.)
Italian Space Agency (ASI) Astronaut, (Payload Specialist)
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Born August 18, 1954, in Rome, Italy. His parents, Mr. Pietro Guidoni and
Giuseppina Cocco-Guidoni, reside in Rome, Italy.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Classic Liceum "Gaio Lucilio" in Rome, Italy, in 1973; received his BS
degree in physics and Ph.D. in Astrophysics (Summa Cum Laude) from University of Rome in 1978.
MARITAL STATUS: Married to Mariarita Bartolacci of Milan, Italy.
CHILDREN: Luca, February 21, 1992.
ORGANIZATION: Member of the Italian Space Society (ISS).
MILITARY STATUS: Reserve Officer of the Italian Air Force.
EXPERIENCE: In 1983, as a staff scientist in the Solar Energy Division of the National Committee for
Renewable Energy (ENEA), he was responsible for developing new techniques to characterize solar
panels.
In 1984, he became a permanent researcher of the Space Physics Institute (IFSI-CNR) and was involved as
co- investigator in the Research on Electrodynamic Tether Effects (RETE) experiment, one of the payloads
selected for the Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1). From 1985 to 1988 he designed the Ground Support
Equipment (GSE) and supervised the design and testing of the Data Processing Unit (DPU) for the RETE
experiment. He also collaborated to the realization of a plasma chamber at IFSI, for laboratory simulations
of electrodynamic tether phenomena and for characterization of plasma contactors in ionospheric
environment. In 1988, Dr. Guidoni was appointed Project Scientist of RETE. In this capacity he was
responsible for the integration of the experiment with the Tethered Satellite System.
In 1989, he was selected by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to be one of the two Italian scientists to be
trained as payload specialists for the TSS-1 mission and joined ASI as a member of the Astronaut Office.
In 1991 he was relocated to the NASA Johnson Space Center to follow the training for STS-46/TSS-1
flight.
In 1992, completing his training as Alternate Payload Specialist (APS), Dr. Guidoni supported the STS-
46/TSS-1 mission by assisting the Science Team for on-orbit operations at the Payload Operations Control
Center (POCC) at the Johnson Space Center for the duration of the mission.
Dr. Guidoni is currently assigned as payload specialist on the STS-75, Tethered Satellite System Reflight
(TSS-1R) mission, scheduled for launch in February of 1996 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia.