Personnel at Europe's Spaceport

It takes a variety of jobs and workers to ensure that Europe’s spaceport maintains its high level of efficiency, these jobs include:

• the intricate and delicate task of fitting the different stages of the launcher together
• maintaining the 2100 ha of land that make up the spaceport to keep the jungle at bay
• towing the huge launchers to the launch pad, a job which requires extreme precision and good driving skills, and
• pressing the button to start the final countdown before liftoff

There are three different organisations at Europe’s spaceport, each of which has a different role to play and each of which is keenly aware of the need to maintain Europe’s worldwide competitiveness in space. These are ESA, CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales)and Arianespace.