Press Releases — 2014

ESA’s Venus Express has ended its eight-year mission after far exceeding its planned life. The spacecraft exhausted its propellant during a series of thruster burns to raise its orbit following the low-altitude aerobraking earlier this year.

The partner agencies supporting the International Space Station will hold a press conference on 18 December to preview the upcoming year-long expedition and to discuss the future of the international laboratory.

The Soyuz spacecraft launched from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan last night safely docked with the International Space Station this morning, delivering ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and her crewmates to the weightless research centre where they will live and work for five months.

Media are invited to a press briefing on the scientific results that continue to come from ESA’s gravity mission.

ESA’s Rosetta mission has soft-landed its Philae probe on a comet, the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat has been achieved.

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, Russian commander Maxim Suraev and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman returned to Earth today, landing in the Kazakh steppe.

ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations and former astronaut, Thomas Reiter, invites experts and media to the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany on 19 November to join the astronauts and scientists that work on space science themselves for a day of presentations just as ESA Alexander Gerst returns to Earth while ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is set to leave on her long-duration missions to the International Space Station.

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission will deploy its lander, Philae, to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November.

Rosetta's lander Philae will target Site J, an intriguing region on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko that offers unique scientific potential, with hints of activity nearby, and minimum risk to the lander compared to the other candidate sites.

Members of the media are invited to ESA Headquarters in Paris, France, on 15 September for the announcement of the primary landing site for Rosetta’s lander Philae, where in November it will attempt the first soft touchdown in history on a comet.

The fifth and final mission of ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle got off to a flying start today with its launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, heading for the International Space Station.

The fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle is scheduled to lift off during the night of 24 July (25 July 01:43 GMT, 25 July 03:43 CEST, 24 July 22:43 local time) from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on an Ariane 5ES rocket. It will dock with the International Space Station on 12 August and undock up to six months later for reentry into the atmosphere, bringing the programme to a fiery end.

A Soyuz spacecraft launched last night from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan docked with the International Space Station in the early hours of this morning. Onboard were ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst and his Expedition 40/41 crewmates, who will now live and work in space for the next six months.

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet has been assigned to a long-duration mission on the International Space Station, it was announced today. The assignment of the French-born astronaut was announced by ESA’s Director General Jean Jacques Dordain in the presence of the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, Geneviève Fioraso, and the President of the French space agency, CNES, Jean-Yves Le Gall.The announcement was made in coordination with the international partners of the International Space Station.With Thomas Pesquet’s assignment, all six ESA astronauts from the class of 2009 will have flown to the Station on missions within seven years of graduation.The Director General noted: “Thomas’ mission assignment concludes the first phase for our newest members of the ESA astronaut corps which was to make each of them assigned to a spaceflight.“This is a clear demonstration of the reputation of ESA among the international partners of ISS as well as of ESA astronauts among the international community of astronauts. The flight experience gained by this new class of ESA astronauts is providing a solid ground for ESA Member States to contribute to further international human exploration missions ."Born in Rouen, France, Thomas will be the 10th Frenchman to go to space, following  Léopold Eyharts who supported the commissioning and first utilisation of ESA’s Columbus microgravity laboratory on the Space Station.As a partner in the Station, ESA is entitled to use its resources, which include supporting missions of European astronauts.During Thomas’ mission, an atomic clock will be installed on the Station to connect with other atomic clocks on Earth to test Einstein’s theory of relativity and allow even more accurate world timekeeping. The results could double the accuracy of satellite navigation, allowing us to pinpoint our location on Earth with even higher precision.Thomas studied as an aerospace engineer before working as a commercial airline pilot.ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations and former astronaut, Thomas Reiter, says: “I remember this exciting moment of mission assignment very well, and I’m very happy that Thomas Pesquet is now in this situation.“There is an exciting road ahead for Thomas, learning all the systems of the International Space Station and the unique scientific experiments that he will conduct in space.”Thomas comments on his assignment: “I am happy to have been selected for a mission but this is just the start of a new phase for me – there is a lot of work to do and a lot to learn before my flight.“I will consider my dream complete when I am working on the International Space Station.”