 |  |  |  |  |
| |  | |  | |
 |
40 years at a glance ESOC timeline40th anniversary galleryVoices of experience, leaders of the futureESA mission history and statusESOC today ESOC - European Space Operations CentreSpace Operations & Situational Awareness
|  | ESA pays tribute to ESOC's 40th anniversary In September 1967, the European Space Operations Centre was formally inaugurated in Darmstadt, Germany, to provide satellite control for the European Space Research Organisation, today known as ESA. ESOC began just a decade after the 1957 start of the space age, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. |
|
|  | Happy birthday, Envisat 1 March 2012 In the early hours of 1 March 2002, the largest Earth observation satellite ever built soared into orbit from ESA’s launch base in Kourou, French Guiana. For a decade, Envisat has been keeping watch over our planet.
|  | |  | Giotto approach to Comet Halley 15 June 2011 Twenty-five years ago, ESA's Giotto probe swept within 600 km of Comet Halley, obtaining the first close-up images of a comet. It revealed the first evidence of organic material in a comet and, still today, much of what we know about comets comes from the pioneering mission.
|
|  | | More News |  | |  | |
|  | Operations & Situational Awareness Ground Systems Engineering ESOC videos ESOC timeline 30 years of Meteosat History of Europe in space 30 years of ESA in pictures ESA History Study ReportsPast Director Generals of ESA
|