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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The launch of Soyuz TMA-19M seen from 113 m by an automatic camera – standing this close to 274 tonnes of rocket fuel would not be a good idea.
ESA’s photographer Stephane Corvaja placed five cameras near Baikonur’s pad 1 and set them to fire in burst mode 10 seconds before the estimated liftoff time.
In the spacecraft on top of this rocket were ESA astronaut Tim Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and commander Yuri Malenchenko.
Liftoff was exactly on time at 11:03 GMT on 15 December, allowing us to witness the launch at unsafe distances through the camera lens.
The launch marks the start of Tim Peake’s six-month Principia mission on the International Space Station running over 30 scientific experiments for ESA.
Follow Tim Peake via timpeake.esa.int and follow the whole mission on ESA’s Principia blog.