Human Spaceflight and Exploration

Media opportunity: ESA presents European participants in 520-day simulated mission to Mars

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:00:00 +0100

ESA PR 2010-05 A crew of six, including two Europeans, will soon begin a simulated mission to Mars in a mockup that includes an interplanetary spaceship, a Mars lander and a martian landscape. The Mars500 experiment, as long as a real journey to Mars, will be second to none as the ultimate test of human endurance.

Joint Statement: International Space Station Heads of Agency

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:15:00 +0100

ESA PR 2010-04 The heads of the International Space Station (ISS) agencies from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States met in Tokyo, Japan, on 11 March 2010, to review ISS cooperation.

A lesson from space: capillarity in action

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 10:07:00 +0100

In space, many things work differently, but not always. Take the movement of liquid in fine tubes. Gravity has something to do with this capillary action, but what? Students using ESA’s 'Take Your Classroom into Space' kit can now find out.

ESA - Euronews Space Magazine ISS: en route to the future

Fri, 5 Mar 2010 09:00:00 +0100

The biggest engineering project ever built by humankind is flying 400 kilometres overhead. The International Space Station has been 12 years in the making, and it's almost complete. And its unique collection of laboratories up there is already giving scientists a new insight into daily life down here. Strap yourselves in for a trip to the ISS, in this edition of Space.

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Launch of Director’s Corner for Human Spaceflight

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 15:44:00 +0100

A new Director’s Corner for the ESA Director of Human Spaceflight, Simonetta Di Pippo, has been launched today on the ESA website.

Endeavour home after completing a special delivery to ISS

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:00:00 +0100

Space Shuttle Endeavour landed early this morning at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a flight delivering more living space, equipment and a bay window to the International Space Station.

The Cupola opens its seven eyelids

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:00:00 +0100

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have opened the shutters on the seven Cupola windows this morning, providing them with the first view of Earth from their new observation deck.

Anti and dark matter detective AMS arrives at ESTEC

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:36:00 +0100

One of the most thrilling scientific instruments ever built, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) arrived today at ESTEC for exhaustive testing before it will be lofted to International Space Station (ISS) with Space Shuttle next July. Quest for the composition of the Universe is about to take a step further in ESA’s Large Space Simulator care of the ESA Directorate of Human Spaceflight.

See the ISS and Endeavour over Europe

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:17:00 +0100

The conditions in northern Europe are set for nice views of the ISS as it passes overhead up to four times a night this coming weekend. All you need is the timetable and a clear sky.

Node-3 and Cupola: European technology to complete the ISS

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 07:44:00 +0100

ESA PR 02-2010 Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched at 10:14:08 CET today and is heading for the International Space Station carrying two sophisticated European modules: Node-3 (Tranquility) and Cupola. Their installation will mark the completion of the non-Russian part of the ISS, with more than a third of the pressurised Station elements designed and built in Europe.

Stay tuned for stunning hi-def 3D videos from ISS

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 12:25:00 +0100

The unmanned Progress-36 space ferry reached the International Space Station this morning with fresh food, air, propellant, scientific experiments and other cargo. The crew of the Space Station got also an extra treat: a 3D movie camera from ESA.

Live long and prosper, Xanthoria elegans

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 16:24:00 +0100

Space is a hostile environment for living things, but small organisms on the Expose-E experiment unit outside Europe’s Columbus ISS laboratory module have resisted the solar UV radiation, cosmic rays, vacuum and varying temperatures for 18 months. A certain lichen seems to be particularly happy in open space!

Close and personal with the Space Station

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:56:00 +0100

The International Space Station was his home for six months. He knows every nook and cranny of it and now shares the secrets of this heavenly habitat with us. The next tour of the station is now departing from the ESA multimedia gallery.

Feeding our future – nutrition on Earth and in space

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:24:00 +0100

There are of course many technical challenges when planning missions to the Moon and beyond, but there is another important question: what should the astronauts have for dinner?

Concordia calling

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:18:00 +0100

Altitude 3200 m, air pressure 645 hPa, minimum temperature –85°C, completely flat landscape, almost total isolation and virtually inaccessible from February to November. Welcome to the science paradise, Concordia research station on the Antarctic highland. The door is open for research groups from all over Europe.

Good vibrations

Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:52:00 +0100

Scientific research is flying high on the International Space Station. The shoebox-sized 'SODI-IVIDIL' experiment in Europe’s Columbus laboratory module has already provided scientists with thousands of fascinating images of an everyday phenomenon: the behaviour of liquid mixtures under vibration.

The 4th SEEDS International Master Course - Student Graduation Ceremony

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:55:00 +0100

On 15 December, graduates of the fourth International Master Course in ’SpacE Exploration and Development Systems’,called SEEDS, presented the results of their final team project in the Erasmus Centre Auditorium at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands. The project focused on the subject of ‘Advanced Lunar Itinerant Caravan for Exploration’.

President of the Italian Republic and ESA astronaut Nespoli meet in Florence together with NASA astronauts Altman and Massimino

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:29:00 +0100

On 17 December, Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Italian Republic, met with ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli, NASA astronauts Scott Altman and Michael Massimino from the Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-125 mission, launched in May 2009, and the Director of the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Paolo Galluzzi.

PHARAO atomic clock agreement signed by ESA and CNES

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:20:00 +0100

ESA PR 31-2009 Today at the Paris headquarters of the French space agency (CNES), Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight, and Thierry Duquesne, CNES Director for Strategy, Programmes and International Relations, signed an agreement that paves the way for the launch of a high-accuracy atomic clock to be attached to the outside of the European Columbus laboratory onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Spacefaring EU flag returns home

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:04:00 +0100

Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Prime Minister of Sweden, which currently holds the presidency of the EU, was on Monday presented with a European flag that travelled 9 262 217 km in space aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.

Expert Launch Contract Signed With SRC Makeyev

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:21:00 +0100

The launch operations and vehicle recovery contract for ESA’s European Experimental Re-entry Testbed (Expert) was signed on 2 December in Moscow, Russia, between ESA and the Russian Makeyev State Rocket Centre. The contract was signed by ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight Simonetta Di Pippo and Makeyev State Rocket Centre’s Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance, Sergey Glazyrin.

ESA supported live astrobiology lectures start third season

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:11:00 +0100

The Astrobiology Lecture Course Network, or ABC-Net, kicked off its third season of live lectures on Tuesday 20 October with three astrobiology lectures broadcast live from the University of Turku in Finland to the other universities participating in ABC-Net programme.

Watch on Euronews: A pocket-sized ecosystem

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Using organic waste and minerals and the sun as an energy source, pilot project Melissa aims to develop the life support systems essential for long-term space missions.

Space exploration: European Ministers in Prague prepare a roadmap towards a common vision

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:22:00 +0100

ESA PR 26-2009. Ministers from the 29 European Space Agency and European Union Member States will meet in Prague on 23 October for the 1st EU-ESA International Conference on Human Space Exploration, to prepare a roadmap leading to the definition of a common vision and strategic planning for space exploration.

Industry Forum for Material Research and Microgravity

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:18:00 +0100

Weightlessness provides unique conditions for scientific, application-oriented and industrial research. On Earth, if a substance is heated, melted, solidified, crystallised, mixed, sprayed or burnt, then gravity has a strong influence over what will happen. Studying those processes in the absence of gravity allows uncovering the fundamental effects at work.

Exploration for Europe’s progress

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:13:00 +0100

Space exploration has long emerged from the shadows of science fiction and became a tangible reality inciting man's vision and relentlessly driving technology development and science forward all over the world.

Space research for Europe’s materials and processes industry

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:13:00 +0100

The European Space Agency has appointed a Commercial Agent Network to target the materials and processes industry to market and sell the use of services, resources and facilities that ESA can offer on the International Space Station.

Insurance for space projects

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:13:00 +0100

Marsh and Company, the world's leading insurance broker and strategic risk advisor, joined the European Space Agency's Co-operation Agreement Industrial Partners.