The year 2004 marks the 40th anniversary of Europe's space effort, as it was in the spring of 1964 that the two predecessor organisation of ESA: ESRO and ELDO, took up their work. BOth merged in 1973, into a single organisation: THe European Space Agency ESA.

ESA 40 Years
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The European Space Agency was launched forty years ago and is a monument to a history of excellence in Space and co-operation between European states in the areas of Science and technology.
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The Global Space race between Russia and the US was in full flight when the spring of 1964 saw the setting up of two European collaborative Space programmes. One, ELDO, built and developed an independent European launch system and the other ESRO was a collaborative science Space research programme.
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In the early 1970Õ`s both programmes merged into a single Organization when 11 European countries signed the convention that created, ESA, The European Space Agency.
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At this time European Governments agreed to extend the scope of the new organization to include the development of weather satellite and telecommunication systems and manned space flight.
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Since itÕs inception ESA`s successÕs are legion. It has developed and maintains an up and running