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 topicESA's next space-bound astronaut, André Kuipers, has spent most of the summer intensively training for his upcoming mission to the International Space Station with his crewmates Oleg Kononenko and Don Pettit. In the ISS the Dutch Astronaut will take part in ESA's fourth long duration mission. His training takes place in all the ISS partners facilities: at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA and of course in the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) in Star City, not far from Moscow in Russia. This story notably shows the training with the Soyuz simulators.