European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA), an intergovernmental organization that has 18 member states, manages the space exploration and research of European countries. The members of ESA are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, while the headquarter is located in Paris. Some other countries in and around Europe have also taken part, cooperated, and signed a contract with ESA, they are Canada, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Estonia, and Slovenia.
A "greater number of members" has given an advantage to this agency in terms of financing and human resources, despite the fact that the citizens pay four times lesser for space activities and programs than what is paid by US citizens. The annual budget of European space agency stood at €3.6 billion for the year 2009, which was contributed by each member state in accordance with the amount of gross national product (GNP). Each member stands the same voice on the Council. ESA also conducts investments in each member state through industrial contracts. The agency employs around 2,000 staff from all the member states in the big body. Most of their programs are focused more on the exploration of Earth and space, and the development of satellites and technology for the benefits of their industries. Besides a single headquarter, there are some sites with different responsibilities that are spread over various European countries. It also has some liaison offices. For example, there is ESRIN as the centre for earth observation programs and ESTEC as the centre for research and technology.
The primary rocket of ESA is the Ariane 5, but it has been replaced by Ariane 4 since the year 1997 due to ongoing maintenance procedures. There are Ariane 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The last one was the heaviest in specification and has flown 15 times to the space since 2002. ESA also has Soyuz-2 which is usable through a joint venture costing €340 million with the Russian Federal Space Agency or Roskosmos. The parts of Soyuz-2 were manufactured and sent to ESA in early 2009 to be assembled later. The joint venture is beneficial for both parties for some reasons. First, ESA does not have to spend for the development cost if it would build its own spacecraft. Second, the Soyuz-2 is a powerful spacecraft with excellent record, so ESA already gets the best they can afford to complete the available spacecrafts. Third, Russia benefits from the economies of scale since they have produced many spacecrafts of similar parts and specification before. And the last one, Russia gains access to launch their spacecrafts at Kourou, which is close to the equator and will enable them to double the payload. For small payload launcher; ESA has 'Vega', a launcher that is modified directly from Ariane 5 EAP and plans the first launch in 2009. It is Italy that contributed the most for this project.
For the International Space Station (ISS), there are 10 out of the 18 members of ESA that participate. Since the establishment in 1975 till now, about forty projects have been launched by ESA so far and many are on target of next exploration.