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 topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
With a simple Google Cardboard-style virtual reality (VR) viewer, you can experience how it feels to be driving on the lunar surface. This 360-degree VR simulation shows Apollo 15’s Lunar Rover in use.
The simulation was created using the SPICE software developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and data generated by the European Space and Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Spain.
1971’s Apollo 15 mission was among the most ambitious of the six lunar landings. Before touching down, the Falcon Lunar Module crossed the Lunar Appenines, a mountain range that rises higher than the Himalayas, before landing beside Hadley Rille, an elongated canyon-like channel. This first J-type mission was the first to carry a Lunar Rover for extended surface exploration.