Credit: CC0 Public Domain

How do you build a spaceship? It's not easy – because space is hard. It's endless vacuum, hot and cold at the same time, streaked with radiation – and you have to fly at eight kilometres per second just to get there.

It takes clever engineering – and costly research and development – to operate in orbit. Space is risky, but past payoffs have been vast. ESA's track record lets us manage that risk, balancing it with chances for rich rewards.

Credit: European Space Agency

Provided by European Space Agency