At the annual Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference, Virgin Galactic and the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI) announced that they had signed a Letter of Intent under which ASI would secure a full suborbital flight on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. ASI’s spaceflight mission is planned to take place in 2019 at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
 
The purpose of the ASI flight will be to conduct scientific research, suborbital experiments and to fly an Italian Payload Specialist.  The full agreement will define the scientific and technological research areas for payloads and identify the Italian Principal Investigators and successful payload proposals. The collaboration will also include training and preparation of the onboard Payload Specialist and on-site pre-flight support for the payloads.