The San Marco programme was an Italian satellite launch programme conducted between the early 1960s and the late 1980s. The project resulted in the launch of the first Italian-built satellite, San Marco 1, on 15 December 1964.[1] With the programme Italy became the third country in the world to operate a launch with its own crew, after the Soviet Union and the United States, and the fifth to operate its own satellites after also Canada, and the United Kingdom (earlier Canadian and British satellites had been launched relying on American facilities and crews).[2][3][4][5]
San Marco was a collaboration between the Italian Space Research Commission (CRS) (a branch of the National Research Council), led by Luigi Broglio and Edoardo Amaldi, and NASA.
In total 5 satellites were launched during the programme, all using American Scout rockets. The first flew from Wallops Flight Facility with the rest conducted from the San Marco Equatorial Range. The last satellite, San Marco-D/L, launched on 25 March 1988.
- ^ Harvey, Brian (2003). Europe's space programme: to Ariane and beyond. Springer-Praxis books in astronomy and space sciences. pp. 110–118. ISBN 1-85233-722-2.
- ^ "The Impact of the Alouette". www.ieee.ca. Archived from the original on 16 February 2005.
- ^ "Centro di Ricerca Progetto San Marco". crpsm.psm.uniroma1.it. Archived from the original on 3 March 2000.
- ^ NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive
- ^ "The Impact of the Alouette". www.ieee.ca. Retrieved 19 February 2020.