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![]() Main control room of the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany | |
Agency overview | |
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Abbreviation |
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Formed | 30 May 1975 |
Type | Space agency |
Headquarters | Paris, France 48°50′54″N 02°18′15″E / 48.84833°N 2.30417°E |
Official language | English, French and German (working languages)[1][2] |
Administrator | Josef Aschbacher (Director General of the European Space Agency) |
Primary spaceport | Guiana Space Centre |
Owners | Member states:
Council members: Associate members: Cooperation agreements:[3] |
Employees | 2,547 (2023)[4] |
Annual budget | ![]() |
Website | www |
The European Space Agency (ESA)[a] is a 22-member intergovernmental body devoted to space exploration.[8] 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.[9][5]
ESA's space flight programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of crewless exploration missions to other planets (such as Mars) and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication[10]; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou (French Guiana), France. The main European launch vehicle Ariane 6 will be operated through Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching and further developing this launch vehicle. The agency is also working with NASA to manufacture the Orion spacecraft service module that flies on the Space Launch System.[11][12]
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