European Space History

The white antenna dishes on the ESA ECS-1 (European Communications Satellite, launched 1983) were Ku-band parabolic reflectors used for transmitting and receiving telecommunication signals.

A technician checks the ECS-1 satellite while being moved during testing

Ariane 1 fairing for ESA's ECS-1 and AMSAT's P3B. ECS-1 and P3B were launched from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 16 June 1983.

Control room personnel during the launch of ESA's ECS-1 and AMSAT's P3B from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 16 June 1983 aboard an Ariane 1.

These photos capture more moments from the launch campaign of the first European Communications Satellite, ECS-1, in 1983: @operations.esa.int @transport.esa.int

The photo is a close-up detail of the payload – the ECS-1 satellite – during preparations for the launch. ESA photographer Simon Vermeer has used the reflective properties of the material to create an almost abstract and visually compelling image, where only the hand gives us an indication of the subject and scale.

#ESAarchives #ObjectOfTheMonth for March looks back at the first satellite in @esa.int's telecommunications programme, ECS-1, launched in 1983. Find out how the development of ECS can be traced back to the late 1960s...

historicalarchives.esa.int#oom @esaconnectivity.esa.int @technology.esa.int

Aye, Calypso! @spacerocksofficial.bsky.social 🖖🤘😉

Singer John Denver's tour of ESTEC included an impromptu lunchtime concert in the top-floor restaurant on 22 November 1982.

Did you guess?

It was John Denver!

John's tour of ESA ESTEC included an impromptu lunchtime concert in the canteen on 22 November 1982. He visited as part of a European tour, seeing the Exosat satellite in the Test Centre.

Great! Now for some ESA merch! Try the @esa.int shop at: shop.esa.int

😮 #60years ago this year, #StarTrek premiered on 8 September 1966 on NBC in the USA!

(Note, in Europe, UK viewers were the first to see the show on 12 July 1969) #LLAP 🖖

@exploration.esa.int @science.esa.int @transport.esa.int

Artist impression of the International Space Station, 1982 (pic: ESA ECSR)

Test campaign for the Exosat satellite at CIT Alcatel, Annecy, France © ESA ECSR

Kourou during preparations for the first operation launch of Ariane 1, flight L5, on 10 September 1982 © ESA ECSR

Spin test of the Exosat satellite © ESA ECSR

🤔 Which world-famous singer visited ESA ESTEC via ‘country roads’?

🎸 All is revealed in the latest opening of historical photos from #ESAarchives, along with other space news from 1982 - a year with multiple musical connections!

historicalarchives.esa.int/opening-imag...

Backdropped by the blackness of space and Earth's horizon, ESA's ATV Johannes Kepler docks to the aft end of the International Space Station's Zvezda Service Module on 24 February 2011. A crescent moon is visible at centre right.

#OTD 24 February 2011, @esa.int's second Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV Johannes Kepler, docks with the ISS. A crescent moon is visible at centre right... flic.kr/p/fqAT6Y

@exploration.esa.int @transport.esa.int

Romania becomes third ESA European Cooperating State On 17 February 2006 Romania strengthened its relations with ESA by signing the European Cooperating State Agreement, becoming the third European country to join this status. Hungary was the first in A...

#OTD 20 years ago! 17 February 2006, Romania 🇷🇴 signed a European Cooperating State Agreement with ESA, becoming the third European country to attain this status. Romania became a full ESA Member State in 2011.

@eui-euarchives.bsky.social @eui-eu.bsky.social

Slovakia becomes ninth ESA European Cooperating State Slovakia becomes the ninth country to sign the European Cooperating State Agreement with ESA.

#OTD 16 February 2015, Slovakia 🇸🇰 became the ninth country to sign a European Cooperating State Agreement with ESA. In October 2022 Slovakia became an Associate Member.

🎉 10 years of Sentinel-3 today!

Since 2016, EUMETSAT has been operating Sentinel-3 on behalf of @ec.europa.eu in cooperation with @esa.int, monitoring oceans, land, ice, & atmosphere from space with Sentinel-3A and -3B. Sentinel-3C will follow this year!
Learn more: www.eumetsat.int/sentinel-3

ATV Johannes Kepler approach to the International Space Station as captured by by ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli in February 2016.

📅 15 years ago today, @esa.int's second Automated Transfer Vehicle Johannes Kepler lifted off to the International Space Station.

🚀 It was the heaviest payload launched by an Ariane 5 rocket at the time.

🚚 Together, Europe's five cargo vehicles delivered over 30 tonnes of supplies to the Station.

A night‑time photo of the Sentinel‑3A satellite launch, showing the rocket rising from the pad amid bright orange flames and thick billowing smoke. The rocket and launch towers are illuminated against a dark sky.

Satellite view of Earth’s high northern latitudes, showing a vast expanse of snow‑covered and ice‑covered terrain in soft purple and blue tones. The left side of the image fades into darkness, marking the boundary between night and day. Cloud formations swirl above the icy landscape.

A false‑colour infrared satellite image of a large hurricane approaching Florida. The storm’s cold central clouds appear deep blue, surrounded by lighter blues and yellows, while the surrounding warm areas show as bright red. Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas are outlined with labelled cities including Tampa, Miami, and Havana.

A natural‑colour satellite image showing thick plumes of brown Saharan dust blowing westward from Africa over the deep‑blue Atlantic Ocean. Swirling white clouds sit above the water, while the coastline of northwest Africa and the bright desert interior are visible on the right.

Today we’re celebrating 52,600 orbits of Earth by the Sentinel‑3A satellite, together with @euspa.bsky.social and @eumetsat.int
For ten years, it has been delivering data on oceans, land, ice and atmosphere.
The constellation will grow with the launch of Sentinel‑3C in late 2026🚀

Europe's uncrewed logistics spacecraft was launched to the International Space Station on 16 February 2011 on Ariane 5 flight V200

ATV Johannes Kepler approach against a black background of space seen by ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli from the International Space Station.

#OTD 15 years ago! 16 February 2011, launch of @esa.int's second Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV Johannes Kepler, on
Ariane 5 V200 from Europe's Spaceport to the ISS.

www.esa.int/Science_Expl... @exploration.esa.int @cnes.fr @transport.esa.int #Space #History #SpaceHistory

Sentinel-3A liftoff on a Rockot launcher from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on 16 February 2016. Sentinel-3A is the third satellite to be launched for Europe’s Copernicus environment monitoring programme.

#OTD 10 years ago! 16 February 2016, liftoff of Sentinel-3A on a #Rockot launcher from Plesetsk, the third satellite in Europe's Copernicus environment monitoring programme 🧪🌍
www.esa.int/Our_Activiti...

@euspa.bsky.social @esaearth.esa.int @esa.int @wmo-global.bsky.social

Photograph of Sigmund Jähn. Pic: Reinhard Ferdinand, CC BY-SA 4.0

Today, we remember ASE Founding Member Sigmund Jähn on his #birthday. Jähn flew to space in 1978 aboard Soyuz 31 as part of a trip to the Salyut 6 space station. ✨

Pic: Reinhard Ferdinand, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Launch of Vega VV01 on 13 February 2012, on its inaugural flight from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

#OTD 13 February 2012, first launch of ESA's new small rocket #Vega VV01 from Europe's Spaceport. This flight carried nine satellites into orbit: the LARES laser relativity satellite, ASI's ALMASat-1 and seven cubesats from European universities.

www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup... @transport.esa.int

@de.esa.int @exploration.esa.int @dlr-de.bsky.social @dlr-spaceagency.bsky.social

Launch of STS-99

Astronaut Gerhard Thiele seated a T-38 jet cockpit wearing blue ESA flying suit

STS-99 crew, from left, Dom Gorie, Mamoru Mohri, Janice Voss, Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavand and ESA's Gerhard Thiele.

#OTD 11 February 2000, the launch of German ESA astronaut Gerhard Thiele on Space Shuttle #Endeavour STS-99 on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM).

www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-... #Space #History #SpaceHistory

liftoff of Vega VV04 against a blue and cloudy sky

#OTD 11 February 2015, the launch of ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle #IXV on Vega flight VV04, from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. This was Vega's second qualification flight.

www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup... @cnes.fr

Hey @genejm1017.bsky.social, how'd you like to have an ESA 'How Columbus leanrt to fly' book? Drop us your details in a DM! Congrats! 👏

ESRO employees at work in the first ESTEC office in Delft, September 1964 (pic: ESA/R.Duhem)

Working back through the history of European space, we can trace the origins of today’s ESA Science programme to the original eight-year plan for Europe's first space organisation ESRO (and why the 'Blue Book' was blue!)

historicalarchives.esa.int/1961-blue-bo... @science.esa.int @cmundell.esa.int

Cover of ESRO's Report of the Scientific and Technical Working Group to COPERS, December 1961, in blue!

What was ESRO's ‘Blue Book’? How did it come about and what is its wider significance, both then and now?

Check out the latest deep dive from #ESAarchives to 1961! 👇

On 9 Feb, Meteosat-9 marked 20 years in orbit! 🛰️

Since 2005, it has delivered vital weather & climate data - from full-disc imagery over Europe & Africa to rapid 5-min severe weather scans, & now coverage over the Indian Ocean.

A true longevity champion.

Learn more at our website: bit.ly/4qxtiFE

@science.esa.int

View of the Solar Orbiter fairing and launch vehicle taken during rollout from the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 in February 2020.

Night launch of ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in February 2020.

#OTD 10 February 2020, @esa.int’s Sun-exploring Solar Orbiter spacecraft was launched on a US Atlas V411 rocket from Cape Canaveral, its mission to explore the Sun up close (pics: ULA & ESA/S.Corvaja) #Space #History #SpaceHistory

www.esa.int/Science_Expl... @science.esa.int

Reposted yet? 😉 We'll select a winner on 11 February, the date that Columbus was installed on the International Space Station in 2008, and DM you for your mailing address!

#Space #History #Books

😎 This weekend, ESA marks 18 years of Europe’s Columbus laboratory in orbit, and we’ve got a couple of these epic ‘How Columbus Learnt to Fly’ books to give away! Just share this post for a chance to win!👍