1986

In 1986, Valfredo Zolesi founds Kayser Italia in Livorno together with Axel Schmalz and ReinerKlett. The company starts as a very small business specialising in electronics and dataacquisition for harsh environments. Its first instruments are intended for tests on cars, trainsand aircraft: expertise that, a few years later, will find a new field of application in space.

1986 is also the year of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. The American programme ishalted and human spaceflight undergoes a thorough review of procedures and safety.

The European probe Giotto flies past Halley’s Comet and sends back the first close-up imagesof a comet’s nucleus. It is a symbolic step for Europe in space: not only observing the sky fromafar, but directly reaching one of the most fascinating bodies in the Solar System.