Philae touch down

Visualisation of the deployment of the Philae lander from Rosetta at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014.…

Ariane 5 stands on the pad at the ZL-3

Surrounded by four 100-m lightning towers, the first Ariane 5G+, atop its mobile launch platform, stands…

Rosetta and Philae at comet

Artist’s impression of the Rosetta orbiter deploying the Philae lander to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. After an extensive…

Gaia liftoff

Soyuz VS06, with Gaia space observatory, lifted off from Europe's Spaceport, French Guiana, on 19 December…

Gaia liftoff

Soyuz VS06, with Gaia space observatory, lifted off from Europe's Spaceport, French Guiana, on 19 December…

Gaia liftoff

Soyuz VS06, with Gaia space observatory, lifted off from Europe's Spaceport, French Guiana, on 19 December…

Gaia liftoff

Soyuz VS06, with Gaia space observatory, lifted off from Europe's Spaceport, French Guiana, on 19 December…

Orlan and airlock operations exercise

Before being allowed into the vacuum chamber for a  vacuum test, and certainly before any further…

Gaia launch – Lift-off

Watch a replay of ESA's billion-star surveyor Gaia launching into space at 09:12UT/10:12CET on 19 December

Gaia launch replay highlights

ESA’s Gaia mission blasted off on 19 December 2013 on a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s Spaceport…