| Nicola Pecile | |
| Status: | Active |
| Birth Date: | 11 March 1973[1] [2] [3] |
| Birth Place: | Udine, Italy |
| Alma Mater: | Accademia Aeronautica |
| Current Occupation: | Pilot at Virgin Galactic |
Nicola Pecile (born March 11, 1973, Udine[1] [2] [3]) is an Italian commercial astronaut who works for Virgin Galactic.[1] [2] [3] [4]
He graduated from the Accademia Aeronautica and served with the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) flying Panavia Tornado combat aircraft.[2] [4] Selected to train as a test pilot, he qualified at the EPNER school in 2003.[2] [4] As a test pilot, he tested new armament integrations for the Tornado and AMX International AMX[2] [4] He completed a master's degree in Astronautical Engineering at the School of Aerospace Engineering of La Sapienza, Rome.[2] [4]
In 2011, he retired from the air force and migrated to the United States.[4] There, he taught at the National Test Pilot School in Mojave, California.[2] [3] [4] In 2015, he joined Virgin Galactic to work on the SpaceShipTwo program.[1] [2] [4]
As of 2023, he had logged 8,000 flying hours on 170 different aircraft.[4]