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
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Highlights of ESTEC Open Day on Sunday 6 October 2013. More than 8 500 members of the public visited ESA's largest establishment, located in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, during the day-long event. Attractions included a chance to meet three ESA astronauts: Ulf Merbold, ESA's very first astronaut, who flew on a Space Shuttle Spacelab mission 30 years ago this year, Reinhold Ewald who visited Mir in 1997, and André Kuipers who flew to the International Space Station in 2004 and 2011-2012. Visitors also the chance to see ESA's BepiColombo mission to Mercury, see highlights from ESA's technical laboratories, try out an inflatable planetarium, shoot water from the ESTEC fire engine's fire hoses, fly drones by remote control and meet the men and women behind Europe's missions in space.