Congratulations to one of our ANU Institute for Space | InSpace Mission Specialists, Associate Professor Eduardo Trifoni, Director of the Space Test Program and Head of the National Space Test Facility at the Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre (AITC) at Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA)Mt Stromlo Observatory. Eduardo was awarded by his Excellency the Ambassador of Italy to Australia Paolo Crudele the great honour of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, bestowed upon him by the President of the Italian Republic, during “Festa della Repubblica”, the Italian National Day celebrated at the Embassy of Italy in Canberra.

What a wonderful achievement, Congratulazioni, Felicitazioni!

In the short clip below you will hear Eduardo talking at his award ceremony about how he has dedicated his career to developing and building space capabilities and missions. He mentions the date of the ceremony being auspicious as it was close to the centenary of the arrival in Melbourne of Italian aviator Francesco De Pinedo and his mechanic Ernesto Campanelli aboard their SIAI S.16ter “Gennariello” flying from Italy.

The two airmen landed in Melbourne on 9 June 1925, after a record-breaking flight of 161 hours of flight and 33 stopovers. Eduardo tells us what an achievement that was at the time, “It was a sensational feat: the third airplane to reach Australia from Europe, but the first seaplane to make it. Above all, it was the first airplane ever to do a return flight, and what a return flight via Japan!” 

Eduardo talks about this historic reflection to highlight how in the not-too-distant future we will see suborbital space flights, where passengers are launched into space for a short period before descending to their destination, drastically reducing travel time – so a flight from Australia to Europe need no longer take 20 plus hours it could be achieved in less than 2 hours. Amazing times ahead, imagine what Francesco and Ernesto would say about this development!