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 Alexander Gerst sitting in a Soyuz spacecraft that will take him to space and dock with the International Space Station.
Blue Dot is the name of ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst’s six-month mission to the International Space Station launching May 2014.
He will serve as flight engineer for Expeditions 40 and 41. Alexander will be the sixth ESA astronaut on a long-duration mission in space and the third astronaut of German nationality to live on the International Space Station.
Alexander is leaving Earth from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan 28 May 2014. He will fly on a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station with Russian cosmonaut Maxim Viktorovich Surayev and NASA astronaut Gregory Reid Wiseman.