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!
ESA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (Soho) at Cape Canaveral being prepared for launch by Atlas-Centaur. Soho was launched on 2 December 1995 as a cooperative project between ESA and NASA to study the Sun, from its deep core, through its outer atmosphere and the solar wind out to a distance ten times beyond the Earth's orbit. Soho is providing solar physicists with their first long-term, uninterrupted view of the Sun, helping us to understand the interactions between the Sun and the Earth's environment with unprecedented clarity. [Image Date: 1995/11] [97.11.007-001]