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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243 Ida is the second asteroid visited by a spacecraft and the first found to have its own moon. Its close encounter happened on 29 August 1993 as Galileo flew by at a distance of about 1,500 miles (about 2,400 kilometers) en route to Jupiter. (The spacecraft flew by another asteroid, Gaspra, on Oct. 29, 1991.) A little more than five months later, scientists studying the images Galileo sent back to Earth noticed that a tiny moon accompanied the asteroid.