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 topicA nightmare scenario for ground control: a satellite getting out of control, tens of thousands kilometres away, and no way to reach it ... and yet, in the past, two ESA satellites have been recovered from a seemingly hopeless situation: Olympus and SOHO. This video, prepared in 2006 for the 10th anniversary of the highly successful SOHO mission, tells the story of these two impossible recoveries, thanks to the creativity of dedicated recovery teams. On 25 June 1998 the ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft started spinning out of control. A join ESA/NASA recovery team was quickly put together and was able to save the mission. The video contains interviews with NASA's Harold Benfield and ESA's David Wilkins. The video goes on to show how ESA's Operations Centre ESOC in Darmstadt prepares and rehearses for such eventualities.