Satellite Italiano in Orbita

According to the Associated Press, a rocket carrying an Italian Earth-observation satellite blasted off Friday evening from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The payload was the third part of a four-satellite system called COSMO-SkyMed—short for Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean Basin Observation—developed under an agreement between the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (Italian Space Agency) and the Ministero della Difesa (Italy's defense ministry). The satellites use radar to create images for civil protection, defense, science, and commercial purposes. Col. David Buck, the mission's spacelift commander, said both sides overcame a language barrier to successfully launch the rocket.

The rocket scientists overseeing the mission probably became familiar with such Italian terms as lo spazio (space), la rampa di lancio (launch pad), and posizione orbitale (orbital position).