2014 is a special year: the space community is celebrating the anniversary of the construction of Europe as a space power and 50 years of unique achievements in space.

It started with the creation of two entities, entering into force in 1964, the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) and the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO).

A little more than a decade later, the European Space Agency (ESA) would be established, replacing these two organisations and since then serving European cooperation and innovation.

This video recalls the importance of Europe efforts in space and its successes with now a guaranteed and independent access to space and several programs covering all possible areas from Science, to Earth Observation, Human Spaceflight, Telecom and Navigation. 

This A&B rolls include rare footage on past activities