Image: ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano emerges from the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft after landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 09:12 GMT (10:12 CET), 6 February 2020. Luca returned to Earth, after six months on the International Space Station mission, alongside US astronaut Christina Koch and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov. This was Luca’s second mission to […]
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano returned to Earth today alongside NASA astronaut Christina Koch and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, marking the end of his second six-month International Space Station mission known as ‘Beyond’. To source
For the first time, an ESA deep space antenna has sent commands to two ESA spacecraft, simultaneously, at the Red Planet. To source
As ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano marks his 200 days in space as part of his Beyond mission, it is time to pack up a few experiments, wrap up science reports and give way to further research that will continue beyond his second spaceflight. To source
Image: The fairing of the US Atlas V 411 rocket with ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft inside at the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida during launch preparations on 21 January 2020. Solar Orbiter is an ESA-led space mission with strong NASA participation to study the Sun, its outer atmosphere and what […]
Wetlands worldwide are vanishing at an alarming rate. New maps produced by ESA’s GlobWetland Africa project show how satellite observations can be used for the effective use and management of wetlands in Africa. To source
After six months on the International Space Station and just over four as commander, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano will return to Earth together with US astronaut Christina Koch and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov in the Soyuz-MS13 spacecraft. To source
Video: 00:05:59 In the third episode of our ‘Fit for space’ training series, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer explains how astronauts learn to survive on their own if ever a spacecraft lands away from its intended landing site. Generally a spacecraft lands within a few kilometers of its landing site, but sometimes they return in a […]
Image: Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana is gearing up for the arrival of Ariane 6, Europe’s next-generation launch vehicle. This aerial view taken in January 2020 shows the main elements of the new launch complex. The 8200 tonne 90 metre-high mobile gantry will house Ariane 6 before launch. First in July then again in […]
Video: 00:03:00 ESA’s new Sun-explorer, Solar Orbiter, will capture close-up images of never before seen regions of our parent star, including the poles, and study the electromagnetic environment in its vicinity. The cutting-edge spacecraft will get as close as 42 million kilometres away from the Sun, about a quarter of the distance between the Sun […]
Week in images: 27-31 January 2020 Discover our week through the lens. To source
Video: 00:03:07 Ahead of World Wetlands Day, celebrated internationally each year on 2 February, this week’s edition of the Earth from Space programme features a Copernicus Sentinel-2 image over Lake George in western Uganda. In 1988, Lake George was designated as Uganda’s first site under the Ramsar Convention – an international treaty for the conservation […]
Image: World Wetlands Day is celebrated internationally each year on 2 February. It marks the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, known as the Ramsar Convention , in Ramsar, Iran, on 2 February 1971. World Wetlands Day raises global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for our planet, […]