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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How do you prepare for one of the most demanding and risky tasks for an astronaut? A spacewalk, or Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA), requires working outside a spacecraft in a world where nothing is like on Earth. Preparing astronauts for these complex sorties requires simulating the weightless world of space, but there is only so much you can do while gravity still has its hold.
ESA astronauts Tim Peake, Luca Parmitano, Samantha Cristoforetti and Matthias Maurer explain how they train for spacewalks with footage from the European Astronaut Centre and NASA’s Johnson Space Center on the techniques of simulating work in microgravity using the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), Partial Gravity Simulator (POGO) Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) as well as checking the spacewalk gloves fit in vacuum.