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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Ceremony of the raising of the flags on 5 December 2010 at the hotel Cosmos, the crew isolation facility in Baikonur. The flag of the host country, Kazakhstan, is raised along with the national flags of the prime crew members. This is done once and represents the beginning of the final stage of the launch campaign. The American flag is raised by Cady Coleman and Mike Fossum, the Russian flag is raised by Dmitry Kondratyev and Anatoly Ivanshin, the Italian flag is raised by Paolo Nespoli and the Kazakh flag is raised by Satoshi Furukawa.
Paolo Nespoli, ESA's Italian astronaut, will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on 15 December for a long-duration mission called MagISStra and serve as flight engineer for Expeditions 26 and 27. This will be the third six-month mission by a European astronaut on the Station.