European Space Agency facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
European Space Agency
	ESA Headquarters in Paris, France
Acronym	ESA; ASE;
Owner	22 European states Austria; Belgium; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom
Established	30 May 1975; 46 years ago
Headquarters	Paris, Île-de-France, France
Primary spaceport	Guiana Space Centre
Administrator	Johann-Dietrich Wörner; Director General
Budget	€5.72 billion; (~US$6.43 billion) (2019)
Official language(s)	English, French and German

Czech: Evropská kosmická agentura
Danish: Den Europæiske Rumfartsorganisation
German: Europäische Weltraumorganisation
Estonian: Euroopa Kosmoseagentuur
French: Agence spatiale européenne
Finnish: Euroopan avaruusjärjestö
Greek: Ευρωπαϊκός Οργανισμός Διαστήματος
Hungarian: Európai Űrügynökség
Irish: Gníomhaireacht Spáis na hEorpa
Italian: Agenzia Spaziale Europea
Luxembourgish: Europäesch Weltraumorganisatioun
Dutch: Europese Ruimtevaartorganisatie
Norwegian: Den europeiske romfartsorganisasjon
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Polish: Europejska Agencja Kosmiczna
Portuguese: Agência Espacial Europeia
Romanian: Agenția Spațială Europeană
Romansh: Agenzia spaziala europeica
Spanish: Agencia Espacial Europea
Swedish: Europeiska rymdorganisationen

European Space Agency or ESA (ESA; French: Agence spatiale européenne, ASE) is an international organisation with 22 member countries. Its job is to explore space.

Its headquarters are in Paris, France. ESA has a staff of more than 2,000 with an annual budget of about €4.43 billion / US$5.51 billion (2015).

The member countries of ESA are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

ESA's space flight programme includes

human spaceflight,
the launch and operations of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon,
Earth observation.
running a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana,
designing launch vehicles.

The main European launch vehicle Ariane 5 is operated through Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching and further developing this launch vehicle.

Images for kids

ESTEC buildings in Noordwijk, Netherlands. ESTEC was the main technical centre of ESRO and remains so for the successor organisation (ESA) .
European Space Agency 2016 budget by domain out of a total budget is 5250M€.
Ariane 5 ECA transported to the ELA-3 launch pad
Soyuz Launch Complex
Vega rocket
Ulf Merbold became the first ESA astronaut to fly into space.
ISS module Columbus at Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility
ESA Mission Control at ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany