History: ESLAB, Noordwijkerhout, 1966
ESLAB, 1966: ESLAB was the scientific and technical laboratory of ESRO, one of the forerunner agencies of ESA. In February 1965, ESLAB was established in the Netherlands at Hotel Helmhorst in Noordwijk.
A few months later, it was moved into prefabricated buildings on the ESTEC site, then under construction. After the fire which destroyed these buildings in 1966, ESLAB moved to another hotel in Noordwijk, Hotel Zinger, and then to a new building on 's Gravendamseweg 18, in the nearby village of Noordwijkerhout.
Here the offices remained until April 1969, when they moved back to ESTEC (earlier, in September 1968, ESLAB had been officially merged with ESTEC and was renamed the 'Space Science Department'). The site of the former ESLAB building still remains today, now with a complex of apartment flats rebuilt in 2007.
