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
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Astronauts working at an external payload site on the ISS Truss Assembly during an EVA session.
Fully assembled after five years, the International Space Station will have a total mass of about 400 t in orbit and 1300 m3 of habitable space - equivalent to the passenger cabin volume of two Jumbo jets. With a length of 108 m, span of 74 m and vast solar panels, it will shelter a permanent crew of three astronauts during the assembly phase and 6-7 once it becomes fully operational in 2003. There will be six laboratories, including Europe’s Columbus laboratory (seen here at left front) - all maintained with Earth-like atmospheres. An emergency crew return vehicle - initially a Russian Soyuz and later a NASA/ESA craft still under study - will always be docked once permanent habitation begins in 1999.
ESA will contribute to the demanding logistics schedule by launching the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV, seen in the process of docking, at the rear) on its large Ariane 5 launcher to deliver up to 9 t of cargo each time. ATV’s engines will also reboost the Station’s altitude to combat the orbital decay caused by atmospheric drag. Europe’s contributions also include two of the connecting Nodes, the European Robotic Arm, the Data Management System for the critical Russian Service Module, cryogenic freezers, a scientific glovebox and the Hexapod Earth-observing pointing system.