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 topicEurope Space Agency's new launcher qualification is well under way with a key event at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana: for the first time VEGA appears in the open air after the retrieval of its preparation tower, a mobile gantry. This is part of the operations leading to the maiden flight of this new launcher made in Europe. The inaugural VEGA flight is scheduled to take place from 9 February 2012. Europe's new launcher will lift off from a newly built launch site at Kourou exactly on the location where the first Ariane flights took place at the Guiana Space Centre.