See the European Service Modules taking humankind forward to the Moon
Live from the Airbus integration halls in Bremen, Germany, get a sneak peek of the two European Service Modules that will power astronauts to the Moon and back as part of NASA’s Orion spacecraft.
Orion is NASA’s next exploration spacecraft to send astronauts farther into space than ever before, beyond the Moon to asteroids and even Mars.
ESA has contracted and is overseeing the development of the European Service Module, the part of the Orion spacecraft that provides air, electricity and propulsion. Much like a train engine pulls passenger carriages and supplies power, the European Service Module will power the Orion crew module to its destination and back to Earth.
Join us on Tuesday 2 February for a visit of the Airbus cleanroom, where European Service Modules two and three are being built. The second European Service Module is nearing completion before extensive testing, and will be transferred to USA this summer. The structure for the third European Service Module that will bring astronauts to land on the Moon for the first time in over a half a century arrived at Airbus two months ago and is being built-up for its mission.
Watch live on ESA Web TV from 11:30 CET (10:30 GMT).
Programme (all times in CET):
| 11.30 | Event starts with opening video |
| 11:31 | Andreas Hammer, Head of Airbus Space Exploration shows the European Service Modules in production |
| 11:35 | ESA Director General Jan Wörner announces future developments |
| 11:38 | Statement by ESA’s head of European Service Module programme Philippe Deloo |
| 11:41 | Statement by Airbus head of European Service Module programme Didier Radola |
| 11:43 | Moon missions overview with ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst |
| 11:49 | ESA’s head of Space Transportation Nico Dettmann on how ESA is building Orion with industry |
| 11:52 | Closing remarks |