CAT 1

Launch Provider

European Space Agency

Multinational · France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, Czechia, Romania, Norway, Finland, Greece, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovenia · Founded 1975 · Director General Josef Aschbacher

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.