Astronauts call on the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop their own rockets to launch humans into space. Currently, European astronauts join missions from other countries and companies.
The Association of Space Explorers, the interest group of European astronauts, asks European politicians to invest in their own crew capsules. This will allow ESA to carry out manned flights itself. That is not possible with current missiles.
If European astronauts want to go into space, this is currently done by buying seats on rockets from, for example, Russia or the company SpaceX. ESA’s own missiles, such as the Ariane 5, do not allow manned flights. According to the interest group, the time has come for Europe to build its own infrastructure around this.
“European leaders must urgently decide whether Europe will accelerate its ambitions and stay at the forefront of space exploration countries, or whether it will lag behind and become a junior partner for decades to come,” they write in the manifesto.