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
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
ESA astronaut Wubbo Ockels windsurfing.
Wubbo was the second ESA astronaut and the first Dutch citizen to go to space, in 1985. During his mission, Spacelab D-1, he orbited Earth 110 times over 168 hours.
Born 28 March 1946, in Almelo, the Netherlands, Wubbo gained a degree in physics and mathematics from the University of Groningen in 1973, and completed his PhD in nuclear physics in 1978.
In the same year Wubbo was selected by ESA as one of three European science astronauts to train for the Spacelab missions, together with Ulf Merbold and Claude Nicollier.
During the first Spacelab mission, he served as ground-communicator and liaison-scientist for the crew on board STS-9.