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,the ESA was founded in 1975. Its 2024 annual budget was €7.8 billion.
CNES is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris,the agency comes under the supervision of the ministries of the Armed Forces,Economy and Finance and Higher Education,Research and Innovation.
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States.
The Italian Space Agency is a government agency established in 1988 to fund,regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospace research and technology.
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 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.
Copernicus is the Earth observation component of the European Union Space Programme,managed by the European Commission and implemented in partnership with the EU member states,the European Space Agency (ESA),the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT),the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF),the Joint Research Centre (JRC),the European Environment Agency (EEA),the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA),Frontex,SatCen and Mercator Océan.
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.
Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes,France.
The European Union Space Programme is an EU funding programme established in 2021 along with its managing agency,the European Union Agency for the Space Programme,in order to implement the pre-existing European Space Policy established on 22 May 2007 when a joint and concomitant meeting at the ministerial level of the Council of the European Union and the Council of the European Space Agency,known collectively as the European Space Council,adopted a Resolution on the European Space Policy. The policy had been jointly drafted by the European Commission and the Director General of the European Space Agency. This was the first common political framework for space activities established by the European Union (EU).
The Earth and Mission Science Division is a group of European Space Agency (ESA) staff mission scientists,contractors,research fellows,young graduates,trainees,and administrative staff working within the Climate Action,Sustainability and Science Department of the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes. The Division is located at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk,South Holland,The Netherlands.
Thomas Gautier Pesquet is a French aerospace engineer,pilot,European Space Agency astronaut,actor,musician,and writer. Pesquet was selected by ESA as a candidate in May 2009,and he successfully completed his basic training in November 2010. From November 2016 to June 2017,Pesquet was part of Expedition 50 and Expedition 51 as a flight engineer. Pesquet returned to space in April 2021 on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon for a second six-month stay on the ISS.
Alexander Gerst is a German European Space Agency astronaut and geophysicist,who was selected in 2009 to take part in space training. He was part of the International Space Station Expedition 40 and 41 from May to November 2014. Gerst returned to space on 6 June 2018,as part of Expedition 56/57. He was the Commander of the International Space Station. He returned to Earth on 20 December 2018. After the end of his second mission and before being surpassed by Luca Parmitano in 2020,he held the record for most time in space of any active ESA astronaut,succeeding Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli,and German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter,who formally held the record for the longest time in space for any active or retired ESA astronaut.
The European Space Agency (ESA) was founded in 1975 when the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) merged with the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO). The ESA Convention was signed by the ESRO and ELDO members on 30 May 1975 and by Ireland on 31 December 1975. Canada signed a Cooperation Agreement on 9 December 1978. The Convention entered into force on 30 October 1980 after the ratification procedures in the 10 ESRO/ELDO members were finalised.
The Polish Space Agency is the space agency of Poland,administered by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology. It is a member of the European Space Agency. The agency is focused on developing satellite networks and space technologies in Poland. It was established on 26 September 2014,and its headquarters are located in Gdańsk,Poland.
Sentinel-2B is a European optical imaging satellite that was launched on 7 March 2017. It is the second Sentinel-2 satellite launched as part of the European Space Agency's Copernicus Programme,and with its orbit phased 180°against its sister satellite,Sentinel-2A. The satellite carries a wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands. It provides information for agriculture and forestry,among other services,allowing for prediction of crop yields.
Vigil,formerly known as Lagrange,is a space weather mission developed by the European Space Agency. The mission will provide the ESA Space Weather Office with instruments able to monitor the Sun,its solar corona and interplanetary medium between the Sun and Earth,to provide early warnings of increased solar activity,to identify and mitigate potential threats to society and ground,airborne and space based infrastructure as well as to allow 4 to 5 days space weather forecasts. To this purpose the Vigil mission will place for the first time a spacecraft at Sun-Earth Lagrange point 5 (L5) from where it would get a 'side' view of the Sun,observing regions of solar activity on the solar surface before they turn and face Earth.
The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is a space agency,managing the European Union Space Programme as one of the agencies of the European Union (EU). It was initially created as the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Supervisory Authority (GSA) in 2004,reorganised into the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency in 2010,and established in its current form on May 12,2021. EUSPA is a separate entity from the European Space Agency (ESA),although the two entities work together closely.
The 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group is the latest class of the European Astronaut Corps. The selection recruited five "career" astronauts as well as 12 "reserve/project" astronauts. They are the fourth European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut class to be recruited.
