The final commands are sent to Gaia

On 27 March 2025, the final commands were sent to ESA's Gaia spacecraft from its control team at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. After more than a decade as humankind's premier galactic cartographer, this was the last time that the spacecraft ever heard from its team on Earth. The final commands included those to shut down the spacecraft's communication systems and central computer, to ensure it is not able to restart again in future. The spacecraft used the last of its fuel to move into a retirement orbit around the Sun that will minimise the chance it comes within 10 million km of Earth for at least the next century.

The Gaia spacecraft has now begun its well deserved retirement, but there is still much more to come from the mission's team on Earth. Gaia Data release 4 is planned to be published in 2026, and the final data catalogues are planned for release no earlier than the end of 2030.

These releases will ensure that ESA's Gaia mission goes on to shape astronomy research for many years to come.