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!
Seen here for the first time is a fully assembled test model of ESA’s new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 6, standing on its launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Topping the core stage and four boosters is the upper composite – consisting of two half-fairings and a payload mock-up with the structural adapter needed to join it to the core stage – which made the 10 km trip from the encapsulation building to launch pad on 12 October 2022.
Assembly, transfer and installation of an upper composite validated the Ariane 6 assembly process, opening the way for teams from ESA, ArianeGroup and French space agency CNES to make the mechanical, electrical and fluid connections which join this test model of the Ariane 64 configuration to the launch pad. Then come so-called combined tests, to validate the complete system: rocket, launch pad and shared connections.