Topic summary
ESA
Extracted from the Wikipedia article European Space Agency.
International Space Station (ISS)
ESA takes part in the construction and operation of the ISS, with contributions such as Columbus, a science laboratory module that was brought into orbit by NASA's STS-122Space Shuttle mission, and the Cupola observatory module that was completed in July 2005 by Alenia Spazio for the ESA. The current estimates for the ISS are approaching €100 billion in total (development, construction and 10 years of maintaining the station) of which the ESA has committed to paying €8 billion. About 90% of the costs of the ESA's ISS share will be contributed by Germany (41%), France (28%) and Italy (20%). German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter was the first long-term ISS crew member.