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 22 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!
Ulf Merbold (DE) was the first ESA astronaut to fly to the Russian Mir space station, carrying out a 32-day mission between 3 October and 4 November 1994 with Russian cosmonauts Alexander Viktorenko and Yelena Kondakova.
In August 1993, after preparatory courses at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Merbold started training at TsPK (Cosmonauts Training Centre) in Star City near Moscow. He was selected for Flight Crew 1 in ESA's Euromir programme, which became the Euromir 94 mission in October 1994.