The European Space Agency (ESA)

The intention of this article was to examine the financing of the “European Space Agency” (ESA). The questions asked were as follows: Which member states contributed to ESA’s budget? Has there been any change in the participation of the member states during the first decade of the 21 st century? And how did the European Union (EU) impinge on the financing of ESA? Also this article discussed the industrial return to the various member states. There were a few or no publications about the financing of ESA. For this reason the numerical information in this article has been distilled from primary budget sources from this organization. The ESA is still a typical European organization, financed by the member states. But the impact of the European Union budget in relation with this budget is new.