French space agency President visits ESA’s
largest establishment in the Netherlands
21 January 2014
Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of the French
space agency CNES, visited the European Space
Research and Technology Centre, ESTEC, ESA’s
largest establishment in Noordwijk, the
Netherlands.
He was welcomed by ESA Director General
Jean-Jacques Dordain and by other ESA Directors
and senior managers for presentations and an
extensive tour of the facilities.
ESA has sites in several European countries;
ESA/ESTEC is the largest and is the technical
heart of the Agency, the incubator of the
European space effort, where most ESA projects
are born and where they are guided through the
various phases of development. Staff from ESA’s
20 Member States and contractors at ESA/ESTEC
are involved in science, exploration,
telecommunications, human spaceflight, satellite
navigation and Earth observation.
The establishment hosts one of the largest
test centres for spacecraft in the world as well
as highly specialised laboratories for system
engineering, components and materials, working
with a network of other facilities and labs
throughout Europe.
During the visits, ESA and CNES could discuss
of current and future cooperation. ESA’s
Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said: “We
are very pleased to welcome the President of
CNES here to our technical heart. CNES is one of
the largest contributors to ESA and also
ESA’s partner for many of its programmes, in
Science, Telecommunications, Earth Observation
and Human Spaceflight, as well as a source of
management and technical expertise which
reinforces the capacities of ESA”.
CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall added:"It
was a great pleasure for me to visit ESTEC, one
of the world's foremost space engineering
centres. This visit gave us the opportunity to
recall the longstanding and constructive ties
between ESA and CNES and the programmes we have
accomplished together, and to look ahead to the
major challenges that await us, especially this
year, which will be a decisive one for the
future of spacefaring Europe."
At the end of his visit, Mr Le Gall was able
to meet and greet French senior staff working at
ESA/ESTEC.
1964-2014: 50 years serving European
Cooperation and Innovation
In 1964, the Conventions of the European
Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) and the
European Space Research Organisation (ESRO)
entered into force. A little more than a decade
later, the European Space Agency (ESA) was
established, taking over from these two
organisations.
2014 will be dedicated to addressing the
future in the light of these 50 years of unique
achievements in space, which have put ESA among
the leading space agencies in the world.
The motto 'serving European cooperation and
innovation' underlines how much ESA, together
with the national delegations from its 20 Member
States, space industry, the scientific community
and more recently the EU, has made a difference
for Europe and its citizens.
Fifty years of European cooperation in space
is an anniversary for the whole space sector in
Europe, which can be proud of its results and
achievements. It is a testimony that when Member
States share the same challenging objectives and
join forces, Europe is at the leading edge of
progress, innovation and growth, for the benefit
of all citizens.
