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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ESA astronaut Jean-François Clervoy (FR) flew on the Space Shuttle Atlantis in November 1994. This was the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-3 (ATLAS-3) mission, part of an ongoing programme to determine Earth's energy balance and atmospheric change over an 11-year solar cycle. Clervoy spent nearly 11 days in space, with Donald McMonagle, Curtis Brown, Ellen Ochoa, Joseph Tanner and Scott Parazynski.
Designed by the crew, the STS-66 patch depicts the Space Shuttle launching into Earth orbit to study global environmental change. The Shuttle is trailed by gold plumes representing the astronaut symbol and is superimposed over Earth, much of which is visible from the flight's high inclination orbit. Sensitive instruments on the ATLAS pallet in the Shuttle payload bay and on the free-flying Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmospheric-Shuttle Pallet Satellite (CHRISTA-SPAS) are illustrated by the stylised sunrise and visible spectrum.