ESA Herschel infrared telescope will investigate the birth and life cycle of Stars and Galaxies

Herschel which is a European Space Agency space observatory, will be the most powerful infrared telescope flown in space so far. Herschel's mission is to study the origin and evolution of stars and galaxies to help us understand how the Universe came to be what it is today.

ESA Planck overview of its mission to study Cosmic Microwave radiation leftover from the Big Bang

ESA's Planck mission is the first European space mission to study the Cosmic Microwave background which is the relic radiation from the Big Bang. Planck will provide the sharpest picture ever obtained of the young Universe and will help to describe its birth and evolution.

Jean-Jacques Dordain explains lessons learned from ESA working with NASA on ISS

Jean-Jacques Dordain - Director General of European Space Agency comments on ESA's cooperation with NASA on the International Space Station and highlights the lessons learned and what should be addressed in the future to speed up the utilisation of Space hardware so that more benefits can be realised earlier.

Meet Timothy Peake the new Brtish Astronaut selected by ESA

The European Space Agency recently selected 6 new astronauts which they intend to train for llong duration missions on the International Space Station.

Timothy Peake was most recently an Apache Helicopter test pilot for Augusta Westland and previous to that was a helicopter instructor in the British Army Air Core.

Interestingly the UK does not currently contribute any money to the ESA human spaceflight program, so it is hoped that this selection may encourage the UK government to start contributing directly to the human spaceflight program.