Major Paolo Angelo Nespoli (born 6 April 1957) is an Italian astronaut and engineer of the European Space Agency (ESA).

In 2013, Nespoli served as cavenaut into the ESA CAVES[5] training in Sardinia, alongside Jeremy Hansen, Michael Barratt, Jack Fisher, Aleksei Ovchinin and Satoshi Furukawa.

[6] Paolo Nespoli served as first flight engineer for Expedition 26/27, Europe's third six-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

[7] On 15 December 2010 Nespoli flew aboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station with the Russian cosmonaut Dmitri Kondratyev and NASA's astronaut Catherine Coleman.

From 15 December 2010 to 24 May 2011, Paolo Nespoli's duties[8] aboard the ISS included participating in the docking operations to receive Europe's second Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-2) Johannes Kepler, a visiting spacecraft that will deliver essential cargo to the Station.

Nespoli took part in the arrival of the second Japanese HII Transfer Vehicle (HTV-2), an uncrewed spacecraft used to resupply the ISS.

[9] Paolo Nespoli carried out an intensive programme of experiments in the Station, ranging from radiation monitoring to measurements that could improve oil recovery in petroleum reservoirs.

The mission scientific programme covered different fields on human research, fluid physics, radiation, biology and technology demonstrations.

Connected inside are a DNA strand for the scientific experiments, a book for education, outreach and culture, and Earth as a symbol of humanity.

[1] During his first month in orbit Nespoli acted as cinematographer for National Geographic Channel's One Strange Rock, filming the sequences with astronaut Peggy Whitson which appear in episode 10 of the series.