FIRST experiment: Fragmentation of Ions Relevant for Space and Therapy, C. Agodi, LNS INFN, Italy − Nuclear fragmentation processes are relevant in different fields of basic research and applied physics and are of particular interest for tumour therapy and for space radiation protection applications.  The FIRST (Fragmentation of Ions Relevant Space and Therapy) experiment at SIS accelerator of GSI laboratory in Darmstadt has been designed for the measurement of different ions fragmentation cross sections at different energies between 100 and 1000 MeV/nucleon.  The experiment is performed by an international collaboration made of institutions from Germany, France, Italy and Spain.  The experimental setup is partly based on an already existing setup made of the ALADIN magnet, the MUSIC IV TPC, the LAND2 neutron detector and the TOFWALL scintillator TOF system, integrated with newly designed detectors in the interaction Region (IR) around the carbon removable target: a scintillator Start Counter, a Beam Monitor drift chamber, a silicon Vertex Detector and a Proton Tagger for detection of light fragments emitted at large angles.  The scientific program of the FIRST experiment started on summer 2011 with the study of the 400 MeV/nucleon ¹²C beam fragmentation on thin (5mm) graphite target.  An overview of the experiment and preliminary results will be presented.