Since its founding in 1967, ESOC has operated 60 space missions in Europe.Experts at ESOC have been able to save missions that were thought to be lost, such as Hipparcos. This satellite was able to achieve its three-year mission to map the stars in the Milky Way, even though it was positioned in the wrong orbit!

On the 19th December 2013, GAIA had a successful lift off in Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, and is currently on its way to study the origin and evolution of billions of stars in the Milky Way.

Wake up Rosetta! Rosettas 3 year hibernation is about to end. The mission in January 2014 will consist of studying the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

This is a model of XMM Newton, a satellite that ESOC operates. This model can be found in ESOC's grounds in Darmstadt! (Image Below)