European Space Agency

ESTEC buildings in Noordwijk, Netherlands. ESTEC was the main technical centre of ESRO and remains so for the successor organisation (ESA).

After World War II, many European scientists left Western Europe in order to work with the United States. Although the 1950s boom made it possible for Western European countries to invest in research and specifically in space-related activities, Western European scientists realised solely national projects would not be able to compete with the two main superpowers. In 1958, only months after the Sputnik shock, Edoardo Amaldi (Italy) and Pierre Auger (France), two prominent members of the Western European scientific community, met to discuss the foundation of a common Western European space agency. The meeting was attended by scientific representatives from eight countries.

The Western European nations decided to have two agencies: one concerned with developing a launch system, ELDO (European Launcher Development Organisation), and the other the precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organisation). The latter was established on 20 March 1964 by an agreement signed on 14 June 1962. From 1968 to 1972, ESRO launched seven research satellites, but ELDO was not able to deliver a launch vehicle. Both agencies struggled with underfunding and diverging interests of its participants.

ESA in its current form was founded with the ESA Convention in 1975, when ESRO was merged with ELDO. ESA had ten founding member states: Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.[11] These signed the ESA Convention in 1975 and deposited the instruments of ratification by 1980, when the convention came into force. During this interval the agency functioned in a de facto fashion. ESA launched its first major scientific mission in 1975, Cos-B, a space probe monitoring gamma-ray emissions in the universe, which was first worked on by ESRO.

Mock-up of the Ariane 1

ESA collaborated with NASA on the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), the world's first high-orbit telescope, which was launched in 1978 and operated successfully for 18 years. A number of successful Earth-orbit projects followed, and in 1986 ESA began Giotto, its first deep-space mission, to study the comets Halley and Grigg–Skjellerup. Hipparcos, a star-mapping mission, was launched in 1989 and in the 1990s SOHO, Ulysses and the Hubble Space Telescope were all jointly carried out with NASA. Later scientific missions in cooperation with NASA include the Cassini–Huygens space probe, to which ESA contributed by building the Titan landing module Huygens.

As the successor of ELDO, ESA has also constructed rockets for scientific and commercial payloads. Ariane 1, launched in 1979, carried mostly commercial payloads into orbit from 1984 onward. The next two versions of the Ariane rocket were intermediate stages in the development of a more advanced launch system, the Ariane 4, which operated between 1988 and 2003 and established ESA as the world leader[12] in commercial space launches in the 1990s. Although the succeeding Ariane 5 experienced a failure on its first flight, it has since firmly established itself within the heavily competitive commercial space launch market with 112 successful launches until 2021. The successor launch vehicle, the Ariane 6, is under development and is envisioned to enter service in late 2023.

The beginning of the new millennium saw ESA become, along with agencies like NASA, JAXA, ISRO, the CSA and Roscosmos, one of the major participants in scientific space research. Although ESA had relied on co-operation with NASA in previous decades, especially the 1990s, changed circumstances (such as tough legal restrictions on information sharing by the United States military) led to decisions to rely more on itself and on co-operation with Russia. A 2011 press issue thus stated:[13]

Russia is ESA's first partner in its efforts to ensure long-term access to space. There is a framework agreement between ESA and the government of the Russian Federation on cooperation and partnership in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, and cooperation is already underway in two different areas of launcher activity that will bring benefits to both partners.

Notable ESA programmes include SMART-1, a probe testing cutting-edge space propulsion technology, the Mars Express and Venus Express missions, as well as the development of the Ariane 5 rocket and its role in the ISS partnership. ESA maintains its scientific and research projects mainly for astronomy-space missions such as Corot, launched on 27 December 2006, a milestone in the search for exoplanets.

On 21 January 2019, ArianeGroup and Arianespace announced a one-year contract with ESA to study and prepare for a mission to mine the Moon for lunar regolith.[14]

In 2021 the ESA ministerial council agreed to the "Matosinhos manifesto" which set three priority areas (referred to as accelerators) "space for a green future, a rapid and resilient crisis response, and the protection of space assets", and two further high visibility projects (referred to as inspirators) an icy moon sample return mission; and human space exploration.[15][16] In the same year the recruitment process began for the 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group.[17]

The agency's facilities date back to ESRO and are deliberately distributed among various countries and areas. The most important are the following centres:

• ESA headquarter is in Paris, France
• ESA science missions are based at ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands;
• Earth Observation missions at ESA Centre for Earth Observation in Frascati, Italy;
• ESA Mission Control (ESOC) is in Darmstadt, Germany;
• the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) that trains astronauts for future missions is situated in Cologne, Germany;
• the European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT), a research institute created in 2009, is located in Harwell, England;
• the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) is located in Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain.
• the European Space Security and Education Centre (ESEC), located in Redu, Belgium;
• the ESTRACK tracking and deep space communication network.
• Many other facilities are operated by national space agencies in close collaboration with ESA.
  • Esrange near Kiruna in Sweden.
  • Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, France
  • Toulouse Space Centre, France.
  • Institute of Space Propulsion in Lampoldshausen, Germany.
  • Columbus Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.

According to the ESA website, the activities are:

• Observing the Earth
• Human Spaceflight
• Launchers
• Navigation
• Space Science
• Space Engineering & Technology
• Operations
• Telecommunications & Integrated Applications
• Preparing for the Future
• Space for Climate

Every member country must contribute to these programmes:[23] The European Space Agency Science Programme is a long-term programme of space science and space exploration missions.

• Technology Development Element Programme[24]
• Science Core Technology Programme
• General Study Programme
• European Component Initiative

Depending on their individual choices the countries can contribute to the following programmes, listed according to:[25]

ESA has formed partnerships with universities. ESA_LAB@ refers to research laboratories at universities. Currently there are ESA_LAB@

• Università Bocconi[26]
• Technische Universität Darmstadt[27]
• École des hautes études commerciales de Paris (HEC Paris)[28]
• Université de recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres[29]
• University of Central Lancashire[30]
• University College London[31]

  ESA member states

  ESA associate members

  European cooperating states (ECS)

  Signatories of the Cooperation Agreement

By 2015, ESA was an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states.[7] Member states participate to varying degrees in the mandatory (25% of total expenditures in 2008) and optional space programmes (75% of total expenditures in 2008).[32] The 2008 budget amounted to €3.0 billion whilst the 2009 budget amounted to €3.6 billion.[33] The total budget amounted to about €3.7 billion in 2010, €3.99 billion in 2011, €4.02 billion in 2012, €4.28 billion in 2013, €4.10 billion in 2014 and €4.33 billion in 2015.[34]

English is the main language within ESA. Additionally, official documents are also provided in German and documents regarding the Spacelab are also provided in Italian. If found appropriate, the agency may conduct its correspondence in any language of a member state.

The following table lists all the member states and adjunct members, their ESA convention ratification dates, and their contributions in 2022:[35]

Member state, or source	ESA convention	National programme	Contributions
			M€	% of total	Per capita (€)[36]
Full member states
Austria[note 1]	30 December 1986	FFG	49.8	1.0%	5.55
Belgium[note 2]	3 October 1978	BELSPO	238.7	5%	20.52
Czech Republic[note 3]	12 November 2008	Ministry of Transport	45.4	0.9%	4.32
Denmark[note 2]	15 September 1977	DTU Space	33.8	0.7%	5.75
Estonia[note 3]	4 February 2015	ESO	2	0%	1.5
Finland[note 3]	1 January 1995	Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment	28.7	0.6%	5.17
France[note 2]	30 October 1980	CNES	1,178.2	24.5%	17.37
Germany[note 2]	26 July 1977	DLR	1,017.5	21.1%	12.22
Greece[note 3]	9 March 2005	HSC	20	0.4%	1.89
Hungary[note 3]	24 February 2015	HSO	21.2	0.4%	2.19
Ireland[note 1]	10 December 1980	Enterprise Ireland	22.9	0.5%	4.53
Italy[note 2]	20 February 1978	ASI	680.2	14.1%	11.53
Luxembourg[note 3]	30 June 2005	LSA	47.5	1%	73.6
Netherlands[note 2]	6 February 1979	NSO	99.6	2.1%	5.66
Norway[note 1]	30 December 1986	NSA	71.8	1.5%	13.23
Poland[note 3]	19 November 2012	CBK PAN (until 2014) POLSA (from 2014)	44.8	0.9%	1.19
Portugal[note 3]	14 November 2000	PT Space	25.2	0.5%	2.43
Romania[note 3]	22 December 2011	ROSA	39.4	0.8%	2.07
Spain[note 2]	7 February 1979	INTA (until 2023) AEE (from 2023)	220.7	4.6%	4.65
Sweden[note 2]	6 April 1976	SNSA	75	1.6%	7.18
Switzerland[note 2]	19 November 1976	SSO	174.7	3.6%	20
United Kingdom[note 2]	28 March 1978	UKSA	437.9	9.1%	6.53
Others	—	—	216.1	4.5%	—
Non-full members
Canada[note 4]	1 January 1979[45]	CSA	16.9	0.4%	0.43
Latvia	30 June 2020[47]	LSO	1.1	0%	0.59
Lithuania	28 April 2021[48]	LSO	3	0.1%	1.07
Slovakia	14 June 2022[49]	SSO	0	0%	0
Slovenia	5 July 2016[50]	Ministry of Economic Development and Technology	2.7	0.1%	1.28
Members and associates total			4,814.8	67.3%
European Union [note 5]	28 May 2004[51]	EUSPA	2,030.6	92.3%	4.54
EUMETSAT	—	—	171.6	2.4%	—
Other income	—	—	350.35	4.9%	—
Other institutional partners total			2,335.2	32.7%
Grand total			7,150.0	100%

Previously associated members were Austria, Norway and Finland, all of which later joined ESA as full members

Since 2016, Slovenia has been an associated member of the ESA.[50]

Latvia became the second current associated member on 30 June 2020, when the Association Agreement was signed by ESA Director Jan Wörner and the Minister of Education and Science of Latvia, Ilga Šuplinska in Riga. The Saeima ratified it on July 27.[47]

In May 2021, Lithuania became the third current associated member.[52] As a consequence its citizens became eligible to apply to the 2022 ESA Astronaut group, applications for which were scheduled to close one week later. The deadline was therefore extended by three weeks to allow Lithuanians a fair chance to apply.[53]

Slovakia’s Associate membership came into effect on 13 October 2022, for an initial duration of seven years. The Association Agreement supersedes the European Cooperating State (ECS) Agreement, which entered into force upon Slovakia’s subscription to the Plan for European Cooperating States Charter on 4 February 2016, a scheme introduced at ESA in 2001. The ECS Agreement was subsequently extended until 3 August 2022.[54]

Since 1 January 1979, Canada has had the special status of a Cooperating State within ESA. By virtue of this accord, the Canadian Space Agency takes part in ESA's deliberative bodies and decision-making and also in ESA's programmes and activities. Canadian firms can bid for and receive contracts to work on programmes. The accord has a provision ensuring a fair industrial return to Canada.[55] The most recent Cooperation Agreement was signed on 15 December 2010 with a term extending to 2020.[56][57] For 2014, Canada's annual assessed contribution to the ESA general budget was €6,059,449 (CAD$8,559,050).[58] For 2017, Canada has increased its annual contribution to €21,600,000 (CAD$30,000,000).[59]

European Space Agency 2016 budget by domain out of a total budget is 5250M€.

ESA is funded from annual contributions by individual states as well as from an annual contribution by the European Union (EU).[60]

The budget of ESA was €5.250 billion in 2016.[61] Every 3–4 years, ESA member states agree on a budget plan for several years at an ESA member states conference. This plan can be amended in future years, however provides the major guideline for ESA for several years. The 2016 budget allocations for major areas of ESA activity are shown in the chart on the right.[61]

Countries typically have their own space programmes that differ in how they operate organisationally and financially with ESA. For example, the French space agency CNES has a total budget of €2015 million, of which €755 million is paid as direct financial contribution to ESA.[62] Several space-related projects are joint projects between national space agencies and ESA (e.g. COROT). Also, ESA is not the only European governmental space organisation (for example European Union Satellite Centre and the European Union Space Programme Agency).

After the decision of the ESA Council of 21/22 March 2001, the procedure for accession of the European states was detailed as described the document titled "The Plan for European Co-operating States (PECS)".[63] Nations that want to become a full member of ESA do so in 3 stages. First a Cooperation Agreement is signed between the country and ESA. In this stage, the country has very limited financial responsibilities. If a country wants to co-operate more fully with ESA, it signs a European Cooperating State (ECS) Agreement. The ECS Agreement makes companies based in the country eligible for participation in ESA procurements. The country can also participate in all ESA programmes, except for the Basic Technology Research Programme. While the financial contribution of the country concerned increases, it is still much lower than that of a full member state. The agreement is normally followed by a Plan For European Cooperating State (or PECS Charter). This is a 5-year programme of basic research and development activities aimed at improving the nation's space industry capacity. At the end of the 5-year period, the country can either begin negotiations to become a full member state or an associated state or sign a new PECS Charter.[64] Many countries, most of which joined the EU in both 2004 and 2007, have started to co-operate with ESA on various levels:

Applicant state	Cooperation agreement	ECS agreement	PECS charter	ESA Convention signature	Associate membership	National programme
Slovenia	28 May 2008[65]	22 January 2010[66]	30 November 2010[67]	5 July 2016[50]	1 December 2016[50]	through MoEDT
Latvia	23 July 2009[68]	19 March 2013[69]	30 January 2015[70]	30 June 2020[47]	27 July 2020[47]	LSO
Lithuania	7 October 2010[71]	7 October 2014[72]	28 September 2015[73]	28 April 2021[48]	21 May 2021[48]	LSO
Slovakia	28 April 2010[74]	16 February 2015[75]	4 February 2016[54]	14 June 2022[49]	13 October 2022[49]	SSO
Bulgaria	N/A	8 April 2015[76]	4 February 2016[77]			SRTI
Cyprus	27 August 2009[78]	6 July 2016[79]	2017[80]			through MoCW
Turkey	15 July 2004[81]					TUA
Ukraine	25 January 2008[82]					SSAU
Israel	30 January 2011[83]					ISA
Malta	20 February 2012[84]					MCST[85]
Croatia	19 February 2018[86]					through MoSE

During the Ministerial Meeting in December 2014, ESA ministers approved a resolution calling for discussions to begin with Israel, Australia and South Africa on future association agreements. The ministers noted that "concrete cooperation is at an advanced stage" with these nations and that "prospects for mutual benefits are existing".[87]

A separate space exploration strategy resolution calls for further co-operation with the United States, Russia and China on "LEO exploration, including a continuation of ISS cooperation and the development of a robust plan for the coordinated use of space transportation vehicles and systems for exploration purposes, participation in robotic missions for the exploration of the Moon, the robotic exploration of Mars, leading to a broad Mars Sample Return mission in which Europe should be involved as a full partner, and human missions beyond LEO in the longer term."[87]

In August 2019, ESA and the Australian Space Agency signed a joint statement of intent "to explore deeper cooperation and identify projects in a range of areas including deep space, communications, navigation, remote asset management, data analytics and mission support."[88] Details of the cooperation were laid out in a framework agreement signed by the two nations.

On 17 November 2020, ESA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the South African National Space Agency (SANSA). SANSA CEO Dr. Valanathan Munsami tweeted: "Today saw another land mark event for SANSA with the signing of an MoU with ESA. This builds on initiatives that we have been discussing for a while already and which gives effect to these. Thanks Jan for your hand of friendship and making this possible."[89]

Ariane 5 ECA transported to the ELA-3 launch pad

The Ariane 5 rocket is ESA's primary launcher. It has been in service since 1997 and replaced Ariane 4. Two different variants are currently in use. The heaviest and most used version, the Ariane 5 ECA, delivers two communications satellites of up to 10 tonnes into GTO. It failed during its first test flight in 2002, but has since made 82 consecutive successful flights until a partial failure in January 2018. The other version, Ariane 5 ES, was used to launch the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to the International Space Station (ISS) and will be used to launch four Galileo navigational satellites at a time.[90][91]

In November 2012, ESA agreed to build an upgraded variant called Ariane 5 ME (Mid-life Evolution) which would increase payload capacity to 11.5 tonnes to GTO and feature a restartable second stage to allow more complex missions. Ariane 5 ME was scheduled to fly in 2018,[92] but the project was abandoned in favour of Ariane 6, which is planned to replace Ariane 5 in the 2020s.

ESA's Ariane 1, 2, 3 and 4 launchers (the last of which was ESA's long-time workhorse) have been retired. The Ariane 6 will replace the Ariane 5 in late 2022.

Vega rocket

Vega is ESA's carrier for small satellites. Developed by seven ESA members led by Italy, it is capable of carrying a payload with a mass of between 300 and 1500 kg to an altitude of 700 km, for low polar orbit. Its maiden launch from Kourou was on 13 February 2012.[93] Vega began full commercial exploitation in December 2015.[94]

The rocket has three solid propulsion stages and a liquid propulsion upper stage (the AVUM) for accurate orbital insertion and the ability to place multiple payloads into different orbits.[95][96]

A larger version of the Vega launcher, Vega-C is in development and the first flight is expected in June 2021. The new evolution of the rocket incorporates a larger first stage booster, the P120C replacing the P80, an upgraded Zefiro (rocket stage) second stage, and the AVUM+ upper stage. This new variant enables larger single payloads, dual payloads, return missions, and orbital transfer capabilities.[97]

Historically, the Ariane family rockets have been funded primarily "with money contributed by ESA governments seeking to participate in the program rather than through competitive industry bids. This [has meant that] governments commit multiyear funding to the development with the expectation of a roughly 90% return on investment in the form of industrial workshare." ESA is proposing changes to this scheme by moving to competitive bids for the development of the Ariane 6.[98]

Future projects include the Prometheus reusable engine technology demonstrator, Phoebus (an upgraded second stage for Ariane 6), and Themis (a reusable first stage).[99][100]

Ulf Merbold became the first ESA astronaut to fly into space.

At the time ESA was formed, its main goals did not encompass human space flight; rather it considered itself to be primarily a scientific research organisation for uncrewed space exploration in contrast to its American and Soviet counterparts. It is therefore not surprising that the first non-Soviet European in space was not an ESA astronaut on a European space craft; it was Czechoslovak Vladimír Remek who in 1978 became the first non-Soviet or American in space (the first man in space being Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union) – on a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, followed by the Pole Mirosław Hermaszewski and East German Sigmund Jähn in the same year. This Soviet co-operation programme, known as Intercosmos, primarily involved the participation of Eastern bloc countries. In 1982, however, Jean-Loup Chrétien became the first non-Communist Bloc astronaut on a flight to the Soviet Salyut 7 space station.

Because Chrétien did not officially fly into space as an ESA astronaut, but rather as a member of the French CNES astronaut corps, the German Ulf Merbold is considered the first ESA astronaut to fly into space. He participated in the STS-9 Space Shuttle mission that included the first use of the European-built Spacelab in 1983. STS-9 marked the beginning of an extensive ESA/NASA joint partnership that included dozens of space flights of ESA astronauts in the following years. Some of these missions with Spacelab were fully funded and organisationally and scientifically controlled by ESA (such as two missions by Germany and one by Japan) with European astronauts as full crew members rather than guests on board. Beside paying for Spacelab flights and seats on the shuttles, ESA continued its human space flight co-operation with the Soviet Union and later Russia, including numerous visits to Mir.

During the latter half of the 1980s, European human space flights changed from being the exception to routine and therefore, in 1990, the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany was established. It selects and trains prospective astronauts and is responsible for the co-ordination with international partners, especially with regard to the International Space Station. As of 2006, the ESA astronaut corps officially included twelve members, including nationals from most large European countries except the United Kingdom.

In 2008, ESA started to recruit new astronauts so that final selection would be due in spring 2009. Almost 10,000 people registered as astronaut candidates before registration ended in June 2008. 8,413 fulfilled the initial application criteria. Of the applicants, 918 were chosen to take part in the first stage of psychological testing, which narrowed down the field to 192. After two-stage psychological tests and medical evaluation in early 2009, as well as formal interviews, six new members of the European Astronaut Corps were selected – five men and one woman.[101]

The astronauts of the European Space Agency are:

In the 1980s, France pressed for an independent European crew launch vehicle. Around 1978, it was decided to pursue a reusable spacecraft model and starting in November 1987 a project to create a mini-shuttle by the name of Hermes was introduced. The craft was comparable to early proposals for the Space Shuttle and consisted of a small reusable spaceship that would carry 3 to 5 astronauts and 3 to 4 metric tons of payload for scientific experiments. With a total maximum weight of 21 metric tons it would have been launched on the Ariane 5 rocket, which was being developed at that time. It was planned solely for use in low Earth orbit space flights. The planning and pre-development phase concluded in 1991; the production phase was never fully implemented because at that time the political landscape had changed significantly. With the fall of the Soviet Union ESA looked forward to co-operation with Russia to build a next-generation space vehicle. Thus the Hermes programme was cancelled in 1995 after about 3 billion dollars had been spent. The Columbus space station programme had a similar fate.

In the 21st century, ESA started new programmes in order to create its own crew vehicles, most notable among its various projects and proposals is Hopper, whose prototype by EADS, called Phoenix, has already been tested. While projects such as Hopper are neither concrete nor to be realised within the next decade, other possibilities for human spaceflight in co-operation with the Russian Space Agency have emerged. Following talks with the Russian Space Agency in 2004 and June 2005,[102] a co-operation between ESA and the Russian Space Agency was announced to jointly work on the Russian-designed Kliper, a reusable spacecraft that would be available for space travel beyond LEO (e.g. the moon or even Mars). It was speculated that Europe would finance part of it. A €50 million participation study for Kliper, which was expected to be approved in December 2005, was finally not approved by the ESA member states. The Russian state tender for the project was subsequently cancelled in 2006.

In June 2006, ESA member states granted 15 million to the Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS) study, a two-year study to design a spacecraft capable of going beyond Low-Earth orbit based on the current Soyuz design. This project was pursued with Roskosmos instead of the cancelled Kliper proposal. A decision on the actual implementation and construction of the CSTS spacecraft was contemplated for 2008. In mid-2009 EADS Astrium was awarded a €21 million study into designing a crew vehicle based on the European ATV which is believed to now be the basis of the Advanced Crew Transportation System design.[103]

In November 2012, ESA decided to join NASA's Orion programme. The ATV would form the basis of a propulsion unit for NASA's new crewed spacecraft. ESA may also seek to work with NASA on Orion's launch system as well in order to secure a seat on the spacecraft for its own astronauts.[104]

In September 2014, ESA signed an agreement with Sierra Nevada Corporation for co-operation in Dream Chaser project. Further studies on the Dream Chaser for European Utilization or DC4EU project were funded, including the feasibility of launching a Europeanised Dream Chaser onboard Ariane 5.[105][106]

• The Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) (National Centre for Space Study) is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public establishment of industrial and commercial character"). Its headquarters are in central Paris. CNES is the main participant on the Ariane project. Indeed, CNES designed and tested all Ariane family rockets (mainly from its centre in Évry near Paris)
• The UK Space Agency is a partnership of the UK government departments which are active in space. Through the UK Space Agency, the partners provide delegates to represent the UK on the various ESA governing bodies. Each partner funds its own programme.
• The Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana or ASI) was founded in 1988 to promote, co-ordinate and conduct space activities in Italy. Operating under the Ministry of the Universities and of Scientific and Technological Research, the agency cooperates with numerous entities active in space technology and with the president of the Council of Ministers. Internationally, the ASI provides Italy's delegation to the Council of the European Space Agency and to its subordinate bodies.
• The German Aerospace Center (DLR) (German: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V.) is the national research centre for aviation and space flight of the Federal Republic of Germany and of other member states in the Helmholtz Association. Its extensive research and development projects are included in national and international cooperative programmes. In addition to its research projects, the centre is the assigned space agency of Germany bestowing headquarters of German space flight activities and its associates.
• The Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA) (National Institute for Aerospace Technique) is a Public Research Organisation specialised in aerospace research and technology development in Spain. Among other functions, it serves as a platform for space research and acts as a significant testing facility for the aeronautic and space sector in the country.

ESA has a long history of collaboration with NASA. Since ESA's astronaut corps was formed, the Space Shuttle has been the primary launch vehicle used by ESA's astronauts to get into space through partnership programmes with NASA. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Spacelab programme was an ESA-NASA joint research programme that had ESA develop and manufacture orbital labs for the Space Shuttle for several flights on which ESA participate with astronauts in experiments.

In robotic science mission and exploration missions, NASA has been ESA's main partner. Cassini–Huygens was a joint NASA-ESA mission, along with the Infrared Space Observatory, INTEGRAL, SOHO, and others. Also, the Hubble Space Telescope is a joint project of NASA and ESA. Future ESA-NASA joint projects include the James Webb Space Telescope and the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. NASA has supported ESA's MarcoPolo-R mission which landed on asteroid Bennu in October 2020 and is scheduled to return a sample to Earth for further analysis in 2023.[113] NASA and ESA will also likely join for a Mars sample-return mission.[114] In October 2020, the ESA entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NASA to work together on the Artemis program, which will provide an orbiting Lunar Gateway and also accomplish the first manned lunar landing in 50 years, whose team will include the first woman on the Moon. Astronaut selection announcements are expected within two years of the 2024 scheduled launch date.[115] ESA also purchases seats on the NASA operated Commercial Crew Program. The first ESA astronaut to be on a Commercial Crew Program mission is Thomas Pesquet. Pesquet launched into space aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour on the Crew-2 mission. ESA also has seats on Crew-3 with Matthias Maurer and Crew-4 with Samantha Cristoforetti.

Since China has invested more money into space activities, the Chinese Space Agency has sought international partnerships. Besides the Russian Space Agency, ESA is one of its most important partners. Both space agencies cooperated in the development of the Double Star Mission.[116] In 2017, ESA sent two astronauts to China for two weeks sea survival training with Chinese astronauts in Yantai, Shandong.[117]

ESA entered into a major joint venture with Russia in the form of the CSTS, the preparation of French Guiana spaceport for launches of Soyuz-2 rockets and other projects. With India, ESA agreed to send instruments into space aboard the ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 in 2008.[118] ESA is also co-operating with Japan, the most notable current project in collaboration with JAXA is the BepiColombo mission to Mercury.

Speaking to reporters at an air show near Moscow in August 2011, ESA head Jean-Jacques Dordain said ESA and Russia's Roskosmos space agency would "carry out the first flight to Mars together."[119]

ISS module Columbus at Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility

With regard to the International Space Station (ISS), ESA is not represented by all of its member states:[120] 11 of the 22 ESA member states currently participate in the project: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Austria, Finland and Ireland chose not to participate, because of lack of interest or concerns about the expense of the project. Portugal, Luxembourg, Greece, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Estonia and Hungary joined ESA after the agreement had been signed.

ESA takes part in the construction and operation of the ISS, with contributions such as Columbus, a science laboratory module that was brought into orbit by NASA's STS-122 Space Shuttle mission, and the Cupola observatory module that was completed in July 2005 by Alenia Spazio for ESA. The current estimates for the ISS are approaching €100 billion in total (development, construction and 10 years of maintaining the station) of which ESA has committed to paying €8 billion.[121] About 90% of the costs of ESA's ISS share will be contributed by Germany (41%), France (28%) and Italy (20%). German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter was the first long-term ISS crew member.

ESA has developed the Automated Transfer Vehicle for ISS resupply. Each ATV has a cargo capacity of 7,667 kilograms (16,903 lb).[122] The first ATV, Jules Verne, was launched on 9 March 2008 and on 3 April 2008 successfully docked with the ISS. This manoeuvre, considered a major technical feat, involved using automated systems to allow the ATV to track the ISS, moving at 27,000 km/h, and attach itself with an accuracy of 2 cm. Five vehicles were launched before the program ended with the launch of the fifth ATV, Georges Lemaître, in 2014.[123]

As of 2020, the spacecraft establishing supply links to the ISS are the Russian Progress and Soyuz, Japanese Kounotori (HTV), and the United States vehicles Cargo Dragon 2 and Cygnus stemmed from the Commercial Resupply Services program.

European Life and Physical Sciences research on board the International Space Station (ISS) is mainly based on the European Programme for Life and Physical Sciences in Space programme that was initiated in 2001.

According to Annex 1, Resolution No. 8 of the ESA Convention and Council Rules of Procedure,[5] English, French and German may be used in all meetings of the Agency, with interpretation provided into these three languages. All official documents are available in English and French with all documents concerning the ESA Council being available in German as well.

ESA Mission Control at ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany

• ESA Headquarters (HQ), Paris, France
• European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany
• European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, Netherlands
• European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Madrid, Spain[124]
• European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT), Oxfordshire, United Kingdom[125]
• European Astronaut Centre (EAC), Cologne, Germany
• ESA Centre for Earth Observation (ESRIN), Frascati, Italy
• Guiana Space Centre (CSG), Kourou, French Guiana
• European Space Tracking Network (ESTRACK)
• European Data Relay System

• Agencies of the European Union
• Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space
• Enhanced co-operation
• European Union Agency for the Space Programme