ESA

Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, the European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental agency composed of 20 European countries dedicated to the exploration of space.

ESA projects include human spaceflight through participation with the International Space Station, unmanned exploration missions to the moon and other planets, designing launch vehicles and researching technologies involved with Earth observation and telecommunication.

ESA operates a number of facilities throughout Europe and abroad, with a major spaceport in the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana; science missions based at ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands; Earth observation missions based at ESRIN in Frascati, Italy; ESA Mission Control in Darmstadt, Germany; and the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany.

ESA Mission Statement           

ESA has stated the following as their primary goals:

• Elaborating and implementing a long-term European space policy, by recommending space objectives to the Member States, and by concerting the policies of the Member States with respect to other national and international organizations and institutions
• Elaborating and implementing activities and programs in the space field
• Coordinating the European space program and national programs, and by integrating the latter progressively and as completely as possible into the European space program, in particular as regards the development of applications satellites
• Elaborating and implementing the industrial policy appropriate to its program and by recommending a coherent industrial policy to the Member States

Member States

20 European countries are ESA members: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.