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 Andreas Mogensen trying the Haptics joystick at ESA's technical heart ESTEC in the Netherlands.
Andreas will use a joystick on the Station that is a twin of one on Earth and moving either makes its copy move in the same way. This allows astronauts in space to ‘feel’ objects from hundreds of kilometres away and provides feedback so both users can feel the force of the other pushing or pulling.
As the Space Station travels at 28 800 km/h, the time for each signal to reach its destination changes continuously, but the system automatically adjusts to varying time delays.