European Space Agency

The Rhine River, the longest river in Germany, is featured in this colourful image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. Along this river lies the city of Bonn: the host of this year’s Living Planet Symposium – one of the largest Earth observation conferences in the world – taking place on 23–27 May 2022. View the full article

Image: The Crew Dragon capsule carrying ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron home from the International Space Station splashed down off the coast of Florida, USA, on Friday 6 May. Its return marks the end of Crew-3’s almost six-month stay in orbit and the end of Matthias’s first mission, known as Cosmic Kiss. Crew-3 undocked from the International Space Station in Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance at 06:20 BST/07:20 CEST Thursday 5 May. When a Crew capsule splashes down, it is met by nearby ships with experts ready to bring it on board, open the hatch, and welcome the astronauts home. After initial medical checks, the crew is transported by helicopter to shore. Now that his mission has come to an end, Matthias will return to ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, where he will participate in post-flight debriefings, provide samples for scientific evaluation and readapt to Earth’s gravity with the support of ESA experts. View the full article

Today, ESA and the Zooniverse launch Rosetta Zoo, a citizen science project that invites volunteers to engage in a cosmic game of 'spot the difference'. By browsing through pictures collected by ESA's Rosetta mission, you can help scientists figure out how a comet's surface evolves as it swings around the Sun. View the full article

The global trade in agricultural commodities provides food, fuel and fibre to consumers around the world. Commodity production, however, is also linked with negative environmental impacts, including the loss and degradation of forested land. Approximately 90% of global deforestation is driven by agricultural expansion – a phenomenon which has roots in the global demand for products such as palm oil, soy and beef. New research reveals how satellites can be used to map and monitor forest-cover changes and help implement effective zero deforestation commitments. View the full article

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is safely back on Earth after splashing down off the coast of Florida, USA, at 05:43 BST/06:43 CEST today alongside NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron in Crew Dragon capsule Endurance. View the full article

After almost six months aboard the International Space Station, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is coming home. Watch all the action, from undocking to splashdown, live on ESA Web TV. View the full article

Video: 00:04:42 For the first time since mid 2011, ESA has two astronauts living and working together aboard the International Space Station. Watch a conversation between Samantha Cristoforetti and Matthias Maurer in this rare moment for Europe in space. The astronauts’ meeting marks a brief crossover between the start of Samantha’s second space mission, Minerva, and Matthias’s final days in orbit for his first mission, Cosmic Kiss. Samantha arrived with Crew-4 on 28 April in SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom, while Matthias will depart with Crew-3 in SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance in May after almost six months on the Station. In this video Matthias is impressed by Samantha’s floating ability and says it’s like she never left. Samantha confirms weightless was the thing she missed the most on Earth and talks about the differences on Station since her Italian Space Agency ASI-sponsored Futura mission in 2014-15. Matthias is pleased with what he’s achieved in his time on Station, including the science he’s supported and the spacewalk he performed. He wishes Samantha all the best for her mission as she wishes him a safe return to Earth. For more about Matthias and his Cosmic Kiss mission, visit the ESA mission web page. You can also learn more about Samantha and her Minerva mission on the ESA site. View the full article

Video: 00:05:50 Meet the IT Team, see behind the scenes and find out how it is to work for the IT Department at the European Space Agency. Find out more about Careers at ESA. View the full article

Video: 00:15:00 ESA astronauts Samantha Cristoforetti and Matthias Maurer, currently on board the International Space Station ISS, discuss their brief handover with Walther Pelzer, Head of the German Space Agency at DLR, Giorgio Saccoccia, Head of the Italian Space Agency ASI, and Josef Aschbacher, Director General of ESA. View the full article

What’s better than one ESA astronaut on the International Space Station? Two ESA astronauts on the Space Station! And they’ll be in conversation with ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, Head of the German space agency DLR Walther Pelzer and Head of the Italian apace agency ASI Giorgio Saccoccia today. View the full article

Image: India is currently facing a prolonged heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 42°C in numerous cities across the country. This map, generated using data from Copernicus Sentinel-3, shows the land surface temperature on 29 April. View the full article

Week in images: 25-29 April 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Video: 00:04:00 German ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer has almost completed his first stay aboard the International Space Station ISS. Named Cosmic Kiss, the mission began with the third crewed launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon on 11 November 2021 when Matthias flew to the ISS alongside @NASA astronauts Kayla Barron, Raja Chari and Tom Marshburn, collectively known as Crew-3. Matthias has now spent around six months in orbit, working on over 35 European and many more international science experiments and taking part in operational procedures. He has also become the 12th ESA astronaut to conduct a spacewalk, or Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA). Shortly before the end of his mission, Matthias could also welcome fellow ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti aboard the Space Station, who launched on 28 April as part of Crew-4 and will continue the common journey for Europe in space. More info on Cosmic Kiss. This A&B Roll provides a summary of the Cosmic Kiss Mission, which will end shortly with Matthias Maurer’s return to Earth. View the full article

Mount Aso, the largest active volcano in Japan, is featured in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. View the full article

Image: Webb in full focus View the full article

This network of long grooves and scratches forms part of a giant fault system on Mars known as Tantalus Fossae, and is shown here as seen by ESA’s Mars Express. View the full article

Video: 00:01:34 ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert “Bob” Hines and Jessica Watkins arrive to the International Space Station after docking at 01:37 CEST on Thursday 28 April 2022. Collectively known as Crew-4, the four astronauts were launched at 08:52 BST/09:52 CEST Wednesday 27 April from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida USA. Transit to the Station is expected to take under 24 hours. Samantha is the third ESA astronaut to travel to the orbital outpost in a Crew Dragon. During the journey she and Jessica will serve as mission specialists. Kjell is Crew-4 Commander and Bob is Crew-4 Pilot. Upon arrival, Crew-4 will be greeted by the Space Station’s current crew – including ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. Samantha and Matthias will enjoy a brief handover in orbit before he returns to Earth with Crew-3 in April. Samantha first flew to space in 2014 for her Italian Space Agency ASI-sponsored mission Futura. Her ESA space mission – known as Minerva – will officially begin once she reaches the Station. Throughout her mission, Samantha will hold the role of US Orbital Segment (USOS) lead, taking responsibility for all operations within the US, European, Japanese and Canadian modules and components of the Space Station. She will support around 35 European and many more international experiments in orbit. For more about Samantha and her Minerva mission, visit the Minerva mission page. Access the related broadcast quality video material. View the full article

Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom, carrying ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and her NASA colleagues Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins, docked to the International Space Station at 01:37 CEST Thursday 28 April. View the full article

Video: 00:03:55 The Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule carrying ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert “Bob” Hines and Jessica Watkins to the International Space Station lifts off from Launchpad 39A. Collectively known as Crew-4, the four astronauts were launched at 08:52 BST/09:52 CEST Wednesday 27 April from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida USA. Transit to the Station is expected to take under 24 hours. Samantha is the third ESA astronaut to travel to the orbital outpost in a Crew Dragon. During the journey she and Jessica will serve as mission specialists. Kjell is Crew-4 Commander and Bob is Crew-4 Pilot. Upon arrival, Crew-4 will be greeted by the Space Station’s current crew – including ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. Samantha and Matthias will enjoy a brief handover in orbit before he returns to Earth with Crew-3 in April. Samantha first flew to space in 2014 for her Italian Space Agency ASI-sponsored mission Futura. Her ESA space mission – known as Minerva – will officially begin once she reaches the Station. Throughout her mission, Samantha will hold the role of US Orbital Segment (USOS) lead, taking responsibility for all operations within the US, European, Japanese and Canadian modules and components of the Space Station. She will support around 35 European and many more international experiments in orbit. For more about Samantha and her Minerva mission, visit the Minerva mission page. Access the related broadcast quality video material. View the full article

Launcher integration for the inaugural flight of Vega-C began with the P120C solid-fuel first stage being delivered to the Vega Launch Zone (Zone de Lancement Vega, or ZLV) at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on 15 April 2022. P120C will also fly on Ariane 6, with two or four units serving as boosters depending on mission requirements. The interstage segment to join the P120C first stage with the Z40 second stage followed on the 22nd. For flight VV21, the principal payload will be LARES-2, a scientific mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Also onboard will be six European research CubeSats. View the full article

ESA Careers Week is just around the corner and we are excited to see you during this four-day virtual event from 2 - 5 May. Curious to know what’s on the agenda and how to register for the fair? Keep reading! View the full article

Tune in to ESA Web TV this Wednesday 27 April to watch ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti begin her journey to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled at 09:52 CEST (07:52 GMT), and live streaming will start at 06:00 CEST (05:00 GMT). View the full article

Launched back in 2018, Aeolus has outlived its 36-month in-orbit design life – but going above and beyond, it continues to deliver excellent data. This shows that there’s life yet in the satellite, meaning ESA’s wind mission is now expected to continue shining a light on the wind for another year. View the full article

Image: Hubble observations used to answer key exoplanet questions View the full article

Image: ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is all smiles after arriving at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, last week with NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins. Collectively known as Crew-4, the astronauts flew in from Houston, Texas, USA, and are spending the days ahead in quarantine before being launched this week to the International Space Station on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom. “This is getting real,” said Samantha. “It’s very emotional for me, that this final stretch to the launchpad has started with the landing here, on this runway.” Samantha recalled her childhood fascination watching the Space Shuttle launches in the 1980s and her reality now: “I am landing on the Space Shuttle landing facility!” This is the second long-duration space mission for Samantha who first flew to the orbital outpost in 2014 for her Italian Space Agency ASI-sponsored mission Futura. This year’s ESA space mission, known as Minerva, will officially begin once she reaches the Station. Samantha will be welcomed to the Space Station by fellow ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and enjoy a short handover in orbit before Matthias returns to Earth as part of Crew-3. Throughout her mission, Samantha will hold the role of US Orbital Segment (USOS) lead, taking responsibility for all operations within the US, European, Japanese and Canadian modules and components of the Space Station. She will support around 35 European and many more international experiments in orbit. Samantha has the honour of many ‘firsts’ in her spaceflight career. She was the first astronaut to brew a cup of coffee in space. Her 2014 Futura mission held the record for the longest European space mission, at 199 days, until Thomas Pesquet’s mission Alpha in 2020. Samantha was also the first astronaut to blog extensively during training and from space. Outpost 42: Earthlings’ guide to the galaxy is a treasure trove of 289 posts about living in space. For mission Minerva, Samantha continues to trailblaze by being the first ever astronaut on social media platform TikTok, bringing space content and European research to a wider audience. Follow Samantha to go where no TikToker has gone before! Stay #Cristofoready for launch updates on social media on twitter by following Samantha and ESA Spaceflight. View the full article