with the European Space Agency (ESA). He led the EuroMir team that in 1995 developed a computer system for the Russian space station Mir. In 1996 he joined NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) to assist in the training of crews for the International Space Station (ISS). Nespoli became an ESA astronaut trainer in 1991. In 1998 he was selected as an astronaut by the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI; Italian Space Agency), joined the European Astronaut Corps, and began training at the JSC for a future space shuttle flight. He went on to join the Space Stations Operations Branch of the Astronaut Office. He first flew into space in 2007, as a mission specialist aboard space shuttle Discovery. He flew again in December 2010 travelling aboard a Soyuz spacecraft as an Expedition 26/27 flight engineer on the ISS. On the 23 May 2011 departure, he took the first pictures of a space shuttle docked with the International Space Station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. On 28 July 2017, Nespoli launched once again aboard a Soyuz space taxi to the ISS where he partook in Italy’s five-month VITA (Vitality, Innovation, Technology and Ability) mission.