The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 22-member intergovernmental body devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023,ESA was founded in 1975. Its 2024 annual budget was €7.8 billion.
Jean-Jacques Favier was a German-born French engineer and a CNES astronaut who flew aboard the STS-78 NASA Space Shuttle mission in 1996. Favier was due to fly aboard the doomed Columbia mission in 2003 (STS-107),but later opted out of the mission. Jean-Jacques Favier was deputy director for space technology and deputy director for advanced concepts and strategy at CNES,director of the Solidification Laboratory at the French Atomic Energy Commission and research program director at the International Space University.
Kliper was an early-2000s proposed partially-reusable crewed spacecraft concept by RSC Energia. Due to lack of funding from the ESA and RSA,the project was indefinitely postponed by 2006.
Norman Ralph "Norm" Augustine is a U.S. aerospace businessman who served as United States Under Secretary of the Army from 1975 to 1977. Augustine served as chairman and CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. He was chairman of the Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee.
Thomas Arthur Reiter is a retired European astronaut and is a Brigadier General in the German Air Force currently working as ESA Interagency Coordinator and Advisor to the Director General at the European Space Agency (ESA). He was one of the top 25 astronauts in terms of total time in space. With his wife and two sons he lives near Oldenburg in Lower Saxony.
The International Space University (ISU) is dedicated to the discovery,research,and development of outer space and its applications for peaceful purposes,through international and multidisciplinary education and research programs. ISU was founded in 1987 and is registered in France and in the US as a non profit organisation. The university offers a one or two-year Master in Space Studies (MSS) in Strasbourg and shorter professional development programs across the world. The latter include an itinerant nine-week Space Studies Program (SSP),a five-week Southern Hemisphere SSP in partnership with the University of South Australia,a 6-week Commercial Space graduate certificate in partnership with the Florida Institute of Technology,and one-week Executive Space Courses in Australia,Europe and the United States.
The Hungarian Space Research Office is the official Government of Hungary agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. It is the organization whose purpose is to coordinate Hungarian space exploration-related activities,both national programs and European Space Agency related programs,where Hungary is a member state.
The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) is a European Space Agency (ESA) experimental suborbital re-entry vehicle. It was developed to serve as a prototype lifting body orbital return vehicle to validate the ESA's work in the field of reusable orbital return vehicles.
Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS),or Advanced Crew Transportation System (ACTS),was a proposed design for a crewed spacecraft for low Earth orbit operations such as servicing the International Space Station,but also capable of exploration of the Moon and beyond. It was originally a joint project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Roscosmos,but later became solely an ESA project. This study was conceived as a basic strategic plan to keep a viable European human spaceflight program alive.
The European Astronaut Corps is a unit of the European Space Agency (ESA) that selects,trains,and provides astronauts as crew members on U.S. and Russian space missions. The corps has 13 active members,able to serve on the International Space Station (ISS). The European Astronaut Corps is based at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne,Germany. They can be assigned to various projects both in Europe or elsewhere in the world,at NASA Johnson Space Center or Star City.
The Romanian Space Agency is a public institution that coordinates Romania's national space technology. ROSA,established in 1991,is subordinate to the Romanian Ministry of Education.
Andreas Enevold "Andy" Mogensen is a Danish engineer and ESA astronaut who is best known for being the first Dane to fly in space as part of the European Space Agency's Iriss program. Mogensen has also been involved in a number of other space-related projects throughout his career,including working as a test engineer for ESTEC and as a member of the European Astronaut Corps. In addition to his work with ESA,he has also worked with NASA and other international space agencies. Mogensen returned to space in August 2023 for his second spaceflight to the ISS onboard SpaceX Crew Dragon as the first non-American to serve as a pilot.
The Director General of the European Space Agency is the highest-ranked official of the European Space Agency (ESA),a space agency formed by the collaboration of prominent European nations.
Antonio Rodotà was the fifth Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA),serving from 1997 until 2003. He died in Rome on February 23,2006,aged 70.
The Mars Exploration Joint Initiative (MEJI) is an agreement signed between United States' space agency,NASA,and Europe's space agency,ESA to join resources and expertise in order to continue the exploration of the planet Mars. The agreement was signed in Washington D.C. in October 2009,between NASA administrator Charles Bolden and ESA director-general Jean-Jacques Dordain.
The French space program includes both civil and military spaceflight activities. It is the third oldest national space program in the world,after the Soviet and American space programs,and the largest space program in Europe.
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Popovkin was a Russian statesman and military figure. He was a commander of the Russian Space Forces,then First Deputy Defense Minister of Russia,then Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency. He had the military rank of General of the Army and the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.
Johann-Dietrich "Jan" Wörner is a German civil engineer,university professor and former president of Technische Universität Darmstadt. He served as chairman of the executive board of the German Aerospace Center DLR from 1 March 2007 to 30 June 2015. On 1 July 2015,he succeeded Jean-Jacques Dordain as Director General of the European Space Agency.
Pascale Ehrenfreund is an Austrian astrophysicist. Ehrenfreund holds degrees from the University of Vienna and Webster Leiden. Prior to becoming a Research Professor of Space Policy and International Affairs at George Washington University,she was a professor at Radboud University Nijmegen,Leiden University,and University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She was the first woman president of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and from 2015-2020,she was the CEO of the German Aerospace Center. Since 2019,she is the President of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and since 2018,she is the Chancellor of the International Space University (ISU). Since 2021 she is president of the ISU. The main-belt asteroid 9826 Ehrenfreund is named in her honor. She is the President of Committee on Space Research from 2022 to 2026.
Massimo Trella was an Italian engineer,with a Master degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering,who has held numerous prestigious institutional positions in Italy and abroad in the space exploration field. He was a member of ASI,director of ESTEC and Inspector General of ESA.
