ENAC and Federal Aviation Administration sign a Memorandum of Cooperation on commercial aerospace flights

Washington, March 12, 2014 – This morning, in Washington, the President of the National Civilian Aviation Agency (ENAC), Vito Riggio, and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Michael P. Huerta,  signed a memorandum of cooperation on commercial aerospace flights. The agreement will make it possible to set in motion collaboration to define the standards for civilian use of mid- and suborbital vehicles, such as space shuttles, including for the transport of passengers and cargo.

The signature ceremony took place at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, in the presence of the Ambassador of Italy to the United States, Claudio Bisogniero, who opened the subsequent workshop on aerospace research. “Italy is the first country to sign an agreement with the United States in the area of commercial use of space resources, observed the Ambassador, “confirming its position in the vanguard of this field.”

Italian participants in the symposium were officials from Italy’s Space Agency, Military Aviation, Polytechnic of Bari, Italian Center for Aerospace Research (CIRA), Space Innovation inItaly (SPIN-IT), as well as representatives from Italy’s aerospace industry, including Thales Alenia Spazio and Telespazio.  On the U.S. side, in addition to Mr. Huerta, there were representatives from NASA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and companies operating in the sector, such as Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Bigalow, Xcor, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and Orbital Sciences.

 “We are drawing closer to the capability for commercial access to the immense resources outside the atmosphere and this same technology will also significantly reduce the link times between States and continents,” noted Col. Roberto Vittori, Space Affairs Attaché at the Embassy of Italy in Washington.