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!
Expedition 51 astronaut portrait with mission patch. From left: NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Nokolai Tikhonov, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky.
Thomas, Peggy and Oleg will transfer from Expedition 50 to Expedition 51, which is scheduled to begin with the departure of Soyuz spacecraft MS-02 in March 2017. Then, they will be joined by cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin, Nikolai Tikhonov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei later that month.