(24 February 2017) Engineer Andrea Accomazzo is currently responsible for interplanetary missions at the Department of Operations at the European Space Agency in Darmstadt (ESA) to open a new series of conferences organised by the Consulate General of Italy in Frankfurt, titled "Science Tuesdays". It is a series of outreach meetings on scientific issues designed to bring the Italian and German public to the fascinating and increasingly dynamic world of science. A statement from the Consulate explains, "with 'Rosetta: a dream that lasted thirty years' Italian and German friends will have the opportunity to listen to and engage with the 'flight director' of the Rosetta mission: Andrea Accomazzo. The engineer will take us through the mission with film footage, photographs and personal anecdotes of this incredible human and scientific experience, will lead the size of our solar system exploration and interplanetary travel. He will help us learn about the valuable work of Italian companies that produce high precision scientific instrumentation for missions as well as housing units in the field of human spaceflight". The event is scheduled on Tuesday, March 7 at 19:00 at the ENIT Frankfurt Events Hall. (Red)

ANDREA ACCOMAZZO

Andrea Accomazzo was born in Domodossola and graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering from the Polytechnic of Milan. He is currently Interplanetary Mission Chief of the Department of Operations at the European Space Agency. He has been working at the Agency since 1999 and was previously the director of operations and flight director for Rosetta and Venus Express Missions. He worked with Fiat Avio on the Vega launcher and Philae lander projects and completed the basic training for pilots at the Aerospace Academy.