Europe expects busy year in space Europe will launch two flagship space telescopes this year, and three satellites that will acquire key data about ice, gravity and soils on Earth. European Space Agency boss Jean-Jacques Dordain set out his priorities for 2009 at a Paris briefing on Wednesday. He said 2008's successes, which saw the Columbus science lab attached to the space station, were "exceptional".
ESA Director General to meet the press in Paris On Wednesday 14 January 2009, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain will meet the press at ESA Headquarters in Paris. The gathering will start at 08:30 with breakfast, followed at 09:00 by a press briefing to review the Agency's activities in 2008 and look ahead to those of 2009, a year set to be full of events and marked by several major launches i.e. Herschel-Planck, GOCE, SMOS and CryoSat. Human spaceflight will also be under the spotlight this year with the final selection of astronauts and two European astronauts joining the International Space Station: Frank de Winne, for a long-duration mission, and Christer Fuglesang.