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Establishments and facilities 
ESA has its headquarters in Paris. The Director General and cabinet have their offices here, as do some of the ESA Programme Directors. The decisions that shape ESA’s present and future activities are made here. Access the Site
The European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, is the largest ESA establishment, a test centre and hub for European space activities. It has responsibility for the technical preparation and management of ESA space projects and provides technical support to ESA’s ongoing satellite, space exploration and human space activities.
ESTEC is the home to ESA’s Directorates of Technical and Quality Management and Telecommunications and Integrated Applications, and of the Research and Scientific Support Department.
The European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, ensures the smooth working of spacecraft in orbit. Its control rooms, linked to ground stations all over the world, track and control satellites, issuing commands for spacecraft manoeuvring and payload operations, and carry out routine systems monitoring. ESOC is the home of ESA’s Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations.
ESA’s centre for Earth observation is in Frascati, near Rome. It manages the ground segment for ESA and third-party Earth observation satellites, maintaining the largest archive of environmental data in Europe, coordinating over 20 ground stations and ground segment facilities in Europe and cooperating with another 20 ground segment operators worldwide.
As well as home to ESA’s Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes, it hosts the project team managing the Vega small-launcher programme.
The European Astronaut Centre located in Cologne, Germany, is a training facility and home base for all European astronauts. It is a centre of excellence for astronaut training and medical support. Access the Site
The European Space Astronomy Centre, at Villanueva de la Cañada, near Madrid in Spain, hosts the scientific operations centres for ESA's astronomy and planetary missions, along with their scientific archives. It provides services to astronomical research projects worldwide. Access the Site
Kourou, in French Guiana, is Europe’s gateway to space. Covering 96 000 hectares, it has a workforce of some 1500 people, drawn mainly from the French space agency CNES, Arianespace and European industry. ESA is the owner of the launch and launcher production facilities and finances a significant part of the fixed costs of the launch base. CSG is ideally sited for launching satellites, in particular because it is close to the equator. Access the Site
ESA's Redu Centre in Belgium is responsible for controlling and testing a range of satellites as part of ESA’s ground station network. It is also home to the Space Weather Data Centre (as part of the ESA's Space Situational Awareness Preparatory Programme). Access the Site Last update: 30 January 2012
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