European Space Agency

:This article is about the European Space Agency. For other meanings of ESA, see ESA (disambiguation).

Human space flight

History

At the time ESA was formed its main goals did not encompass human space flight, rather it considered itself to be primarily a scientific research organisation for unmanned space exploration in contrast to its American and Soviet counterparts. It is therefore not surprising that the first non-Soviet European in space was not an ESA astronaut on a European space craft: It was Czechoslovakian Vladimir Remek who in 1978 became the first European in space - on a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, followed by the East German Sigmund Jähn in the same year. This Soviet cooperation programme named Intercosmos primarily involved the participation of Eastern block countries, however in 1982 Jean-Loup Chrétien became the first western European cosmonaut on a flight to the Soviet Salyut 7 space station.

Related Topics:
Czechoslovakian - Vladimir Remek - 1978 - Soviet - Soyuz spacecraft - East German - Sigmund Jähn - Intercosmos - Eastern block - 1982 - Jean-Loup Chrétien - Salyut 7

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Because Chrétien did not officially fly into space as an ESA astronaut, but rather as a member of the French CNES astronaut corps, the German Ulf Merbold is considered the first ESA astronaut ever to fly into space. He participated in the STS-9 space shuttle mission that included the first use of the European built Spacelab in 1983. STS-9 marked the beginning of an intensive ESA/NASA joint partnership that included dozens of space flights of ESA astronauts in the following years. Beside paying for seats on the Space Shuttle ESA continued its human space flight cooperation with the Soviet Union and later Russia, including numerous visits to Mir.

Related Topics:
CNES - Ulf Merbold - STS-9 - Spacelab - 1983 - Space Shuttle - Soviet Union - Russia - Mir

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During the latter half of the 1980s European human space flights changed from being the exception to rather constituting a routine and therefore in 1990 the European Astronaut Centre that is situated in Cologne, Germany was established. It selects and trains prospective astronauts and is responsible for the coordination with international partners especially with regards to the International Space Station. As of 2005 the ESA corps officially counts 18 members, including nationals from all big European countries except the United Kingdom.

Related Topics:
European Astronaut Centre - Cologne - Germany - International Space Station - 2005 - United Kingdom

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ESA Astronaut Corps

Pedro Duque (E), Gerhard Thiele (D), Jean-François Clervoy (F), Umberto Guidoni (I), Léopold Eyharts (F), Reinhold Ewald (D), Roberto Vittori (I), Claude Nicollier (CH). Paolo Nespoli (I), Thomas Reiter (D), Christer Fuglesang (S), Frank De Winne (B), Michel Tognini (F), Hans Schlegel (D), Philippe Perrin (F), André Kuipers (NL).

Related Topics:
Pedro Duque - Gerhard Thiele - Jean-François Clervoy - Umberto Guidoni - Léopold Eyharts - Reinhold Ewald - Roberto Vittori - Claude Nicollier - Paolo Nespoli - Thomas Reiter - Christer Fuglesang - Frank De Winne - Michel Tognini - Hans Schlegel - Philippe Perrin - André Kuipers

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ESA astronauts to have visited the ISS are:

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• U. Guidoni (I), ESA, 9th ISS flight (6A) Raffaello MPLM, STS-100/ISS, 19/04/01 - 01/05/01
• C. Haigneré (F), CNES Andromède, Soyuz/ISS, 21/10/01 - 31/10/01
• R. Vittori (I), ASI Marco Polo, Soyuz/ISS, 25/04/02 - 05/05/02
• Ph. Perrin (F), NASA/ESA, ISS assembly flight UF-2, STS-111/ISS, 05/06/02 - 19/06/02
• F. De Winne (B), ESA, Odissea, Soyuz/ISS, 30/10/02 - 10/11/02
• P. Duque (E), ESA, Cervantes, Soyuz/ISS 18/10/03 - 28/10/03
• A. Kuipers (NL), ESA, DELTA Mission, 8S/ISS, 19/04/04 - 30/04/04
• R. Vittori (I), ASI Eneide, Soyuz/ISS, 15/04/05 - 25/04/05

ESA's own manned launch vehicles

In the 1980s France pressed for an independent European manned launch vehicle. Around 1985 it was decided to pursue a reusable spacecraft model and starting in November 1987 a project to create a mini-shuttle by the name of Hermes was introduced. The craft itself was modelled comparable to the first proposals of the Space Shuttle and should constitute a small reusable spaceship that would carry 3 to 5 astronauts and 3 to 4 metric tons of payload for scientific experiments. With a total maximum weight of 21 metric tons it would have started from the parallely developed Ariane 5 rocket. It was planned solely for use in LEO space flights. The planning and pre-development phase concluded in 1991, however the production phase was never fully implemented because at that time the political landscape had changed significantly. With the fall of the Soviet Union ESA looked forward to a cooperation with Russia to built a next-generation human space vehicle. Thus the Hermes programme was cancelled in 1995 after about 3 billion dollars had been invested.

Related Topics:
Hermes - Space Shuttle - Ariane 5 - 1991 - Soviet Union - Russia - 1995

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In the 21st century ESA started new programmes in order to create an own manned spacecraft, most notably among its various projects and proposal is Hopper where a prototype built by EADS called Phoenix has already been tested. While projects such as Hopper are neither concrete nor to be realised within the next decade, a more interesting possibility has emerged recently. After talks with the Russian Space Agency in 2004 and June 2005 {{ref|kliper}} a cooperation between ESA and the Russian Space Agency was announced to jointly work on the Russian designed Kliper shuttle, a reusable spacecraft that would be available for space travel beyond mere LEO (e.g. the moon or even Mars). Kliper constitutes the Russian counterpart to the American Crew Exploration Vehicle proposal and is currently in a more advanced stage of development. It is speculated that Europe will finance the bulk of the development costs of an estimated 3 billion dollars (Europe's contribution may amount to 1.8 billion dollars over the next years) and that Kliper will be jointly built and later be able to take off both from French Guiana and Baikonur. With ESA's participation expected to be approved in December 2005, Kliper may see its first launch as early as 2011. With regard to the rocket that will be used for its launch, the Ariane 5 as a heavy lifter, looks to be more than capable of launching the 13ton Kliper into LEO, however as with the American CEV questions remain how it will be launched to destinations beyond LEO. Today the only viable rocket that would be able to launch either the CEV or Kliper into a lunar trajectory or to Mars is the Russian built Energia rocket that was successfully launched two times in the early 1990s, but has been suspended in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union. A modular approach putting several modules (Kliper, a propulsion module, a mission module, a lunar lander module...) into lower Earth orbit and dock them is thus planned for flights to the Moon and further.

Related Topics:
Hopper - EADS - Phoenix - Russian Space Agency - 2004 - June - 2005 - Kliper - Russian - Crew Exploration Vehicle - French Guiana - Baikonur - 2011 - Ariane 5 - LEO - CEV - Mars - Energia - Soviet Union - Moon

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