The first documents signalling the go-ahead for Europe’s fleet of MetOp Second Generation weather satellites were signed by Volker Liebig, ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes, and Michael Menking, Head of Airbus Defence & Space’s Earth Observation, Navigation and Science Programmes at the Berlin Air Show on 20 May 2014. These important documents were signed in the presence of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General.