EUROPE Many nations of Western Europe are engaged to some degree in space activities, primarily in the form of
satellite
manufacture and the development of research projects to be pursued in orbit. The major nations also have their own governmental space agencies, and 15 European countries have joined to form the European Space Agency (ESA). The achievements of this organization have been highlighted by the development of the Ariane family of rockets, the Spacelab module, the Giotto probe to Halley's comet, and major parts of the International Space Station. The Ariane rocket was developed to provide the European nations with independent access to space, and it is also promoted on a commercial basis for the launching of non-European payloads. The rockets consist of French-built first and second stages and a German-built, hydrogen-fueled third stage. Although a series of failures followed the early successful launching of Ariane, the orbiting of an Australian and a European
satellite by Ariane V19 in 1987 and subsequent successes seemed to indicate that the program was back on course. Expanded launch facilities are planned at the Ariane launch site, the Guiana Space Center at Kourou, to support even larger versions of this booster. The ESA has an official astronaut program, which was originally designed to train candidates for Spacelab
missions aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle. Three candidates were selected in 1980, two of whom flew actual missions before the Challenger disaster drastically curtailed the program. In addition, two West German physicists also flew aboard the Spacelab as payload specialists. In 1987 the West Germans selected five more astronautsÑtwo women and three menÑto train for flights aboard the Shuttle and, possibly, remaining Spacelab missions. The trainees have scientific-research backgrounds but lack test-pilot experience. In France a group of eight "spationautes" was selected to train for participation in possible Shuttle programs as well. Prior to that, a French pilot took part in the Soviet "guest cosmonaut" program aboard Salyut 7 in 1983, and his understudy took part in a seven-day Shuttle mission in 1985. ESA also defined astronaut requirements for its proposed Hermes-manned spaceplane and Columbus space-station programs. Hermes was canceled in 1993, but ESA remains a partner in the NASA station, and ESA astronauts have spent long missions on Russia's Mir. ESA has also developed a number of advanced applications satellites. The Meteosat program, which began in 1977, involves weather monitoring from geosynchronous orbit. The European Communications Satellite (ECS) and its maritime version, MARECS, are ongoing programs to develop and use highly advanced communications technology. These applications satellites are administered by international groups known as Eutelsat (for ECS) and Inmarsat (the International Maritime Satellite Organization).