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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At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, on 6 May 2014, Expedition 40/41 backup crew member Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (foreground) walks to a Soyuz simulator May 6 along with backup Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, second from the right) to begin two days of final qualification exams. Cristoforetti, Shkaplerov and Terry Virts of NASA are serving as backups to the prime crew members --- Reid Wiseman of NASA, Maxim Suraev of Roscosmos and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, who are preparing for launch on May 29, Kazakh time, on the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station.