European Space Agency – ESA

• Type: Multinational
• Abbreviation: ESA
• Administration: Director General: Josef Aschbacher
• Founded: 1975
• Country: AUT,BEL,CZE,DNK,FIN,FRA,DEU,GRC,IRE,ITA,LUZ,NLD,NOR,POL,PRT,ROU,ESP,SWE,CHE,GBR

The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,000 employees.

ESA’s space flight programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana.