Satellites-Europe's `NASA' gets off the ground

Until May 31 of last year, European satellite and launcher activities were under the umbrellas of the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) and the European Organization for the Development and Construction of Space Vehicle Launchers (ELDO), respectively. On that date, these two agencies were integrated into a single new agency, the European Space Agency, or ESA. Its chartered purpose is "to provide for and to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes, co-operation among European States in [scientific] space research and technology and their space applications..." ESA is also charged with the formulation and implementation of a long-term European space policy that would coordinate European space programs with national programs.