The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
A large piece of Europe’s retired Ariane 4 launcher left French Guiana on 11 May 2012 on a long journey across the Atlantic for display at the Space Expo museum next to ESA’s ESTEC space research and technology centre in the Netherlands.
The payload fairing of half-shells was a flight-ready spare for the last Ariane 4 launch that took off in February 2003 from Europe’s Spaceport.