This is ESA is an illustrated guide to what ESA is and what we do. It shows a range of our activities and missions at the cutting edge of space design and technology, from making space safer to monitoring climate change and exploring our Solar System. It is currently available as printable PDF versions, available in the primary languages of all ESA Member States. The brochure comes with an attractive space poster that can also be downloaded.

The One ESA brochure explores ESA’s establishments and how they work together on European space missions. Whether it’s training astronauts, developing launchers, telecoms innovation, Earth observation or our space safety programmes, everyone across the organisation works towards our goals as ‘One ESA’. Colourful illustrations bring our space activities to life.

ESA Highlights is a visual showcase of some of ESA's key achievements over a 12-month period. The printable PDF version of ESA Highlights 2025 is accessible here.

Welcome to ESA Impact, your interactive gateway to the most captivating stories and stunning visuals from the European Space Agency, now in a mobile-friendly format. Just scroll down through it to see – and read about – our selection!

Produced to mark ESA’s first half century, ESA Delivers: 50 Hallmark Achievements Across 50 Years presents key achievements of the agency over the last five decades – from landing on a comet to fostering Europe’s space industry, contributing a lab for the Space Shuttle to implementing the world’s most precise satellite navigation system. ESA Delivers is now available for download.

Latest version: 9th edition published in August 2025 as ESA SP-1344The beginnings of an independent space organisation in Europe were in the early 1960s, with the creation of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) and the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO).