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 topic
ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli landed back on Earth this morning to conclude his 159-day mission to the International Space Station.
Paolo had been serving as the flight engineer for Expeditions 26 and 27 since December. Paolo’s MagISStra mission, the third long mission by a European astronaut on the Station, came to end at 04:27 CEST (02:27 GMT) on the steppes of Kazakhstan as the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft fired its retrorockets for a soft landing.
Paolo and crewmates Soyuz Commander Dmitri Kondratyev and NASA's Cady Coleman boarded the Soyuz on Monday night and undocked from the Station’s nadir Rassvet port at 23:35 CEST (21:35 GMT).