Paris – The European Space Agency marked its 50th anniversary in May, kicking off a landmark year of mission launches and strategic planning. With the ESA Ministerial Council set to meet in November, Director General Josef Aschbacher reflected on five decades of progress and outlined the agency’s future in exploration, climate science, navigation, and global collaboration.
Since its founding in 1975, ESA has contributed to a broad range of scientific and technological areas. One of its most notable moments came in 2014 with the Rosetta mission, when the Philae lander became the first human-made object to land on a comet. The event drew global attention and is considered a major milestone in robotic space exploration.
