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N° 61-2026: The European Space Agency and Vast build on existing mission collaborations and strengthen cooperation on post-iss. 5 October 2026 The European Space Agency (ESA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Vast, continuing the collaboration between the two and paving the way for potential future cooperation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This is part of the agency's global preparatory work in the framework of the upcoming end of service and de-orbitation of the International Space Station (ISS). Signed during the 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026), the MoU reflects the shared interest between ESA and Vast to collaborate in future commercial opportunities in Low Earth Orbit and builds on a previous and successfully implemented one signed in 2024. "The International Space Station has been one of the greatest examples of international cooperation in space," said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. "As Europe prepares its future space exploration strategy, we are assessing a range of options for maintaining our presence in Low Earth Orbit. This cooperation with Vast is an important step in helping us define future opportunities for European astronauts, research and technology." The MoU provides a framework for a potential collaboration between the two parties including potential future astronaut missions onboard the station Haven which is currently being developed by Vast, possible ESA hardware or contributions to infrastructure. Such cooperation may also address ESA utilisation of Haven space stations, including jointly defined research campaigns, dedicated science accommodations, associated up-mass and down-mass capacity, and crew time to support continuity of ESA utilisation between ESA missions. "ESA and Vast are already collaborating on four crewed missions to the International Space Station and Haven-1 planned for 2027, including the first crewed mission to Haven-1," said Max Haot, CEO of Vast. "This MoU looks beyond those missions to the post-ISS era. We are designing Haven Station to ensure ESA, its astronauts, and its scientists have continued access to low-Earth orbit, while carrying forward the strong international collaboration that has defined the International Space Station." "To ensure Europe's future in Low Earth Orbit, we need to anticipate and ensure our readiness once the great cooperation on ISS comes to an end," said Daniel Neuenschwander, Director of Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA. "In this regard, we are investigating various options to ensure our future collective ability to implement science and technology demonstrations in micro-gravity environment. This effort will also play a key role in creating new flight opportunities for our astronauts corps." Another important segment of the cooperation relates to the common interest in collaborating and exchange information to enable possible future European cargo and crew vehicles to service Haven station. The MoU will support further information exchanges and preparatory work to identify potential areas for future cooperation. ESA's preparations for a post-ISS future include securing options for continued access to microgravity research platforms and flight opportunities for European astronauts. This document replaces the MoU ESA and Vast signed at ILA Berlin in June 2024 and broadens their cooperation in human spaceflight, science, technology, and commercialisation. It runs for an initial three years, starting with a joint feasibility study intended to produce a roadmap and an indicative schedule for any binding agreements. Images. For questions or more information related to ESA images, please contact directly [email protected] For questions or more information related to ESA videos, please contact directly [email protected] Follow ESA on * X: @esa * Bluesky: @esa * LinkedIn: @ESA * Facebook: @EuropeanSpaceAgency * Instagram: @europeanspaceagency * YouTube: ESA About the European Space Agency. The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe's gateway to space. ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA has 23 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are Associate Members. ESA has established formal cooperation with three Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement. By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.

ESA and Vast Agree to Fly Greece's First Astronaut to the ISS. ESA and commercial station firm Vast signed an agreement in Paris to fly Greek flight surgeon Adrianos Golemis to the ISS in 2027, pending medical certification, aboard a mission commanded by Thomas Pesquet. 2026-09-10 · By Cosmic Herald Staff Greece is set to send its first astronaut to space. At the International Space Summit in Paris on September 9, 2026, the European Space Agency, acting on behalf of the Greek government, signed an agreement with commercial space station company Vast to fly ESA flight surgeon Dr. Adrianos Golemis to the International Space Station in 2027. The flight still depends on Golemis clearing final medical certification, but the deal marks the moment a long-running national ambition turned into a mission with a launch vehicle, a crew, and a target year attached. The announcement drew a heavier political footprint than a typical astronaut assignment. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and French President Emmanuel Macron both attended, alongside ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and Vast CEO Max Haot. Aschbacher called it "a historic moment for Greece: a national ambition becoming a concrete human spaceflight mission." Greek Minister of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence Dimitris Papastergiou framed it as the payoff of "a sustained national effort," according to ESA's and Vast's announcements of the deal. Who is flying, and on what. Golemis is not a newcomer to human spaceflight operations - he already works for ESA as a flight surgeon, the physicians who monitor astronaut health before, during, and after missions. He holds a medical degree from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a master's degree in space sciences from the International Space University. Under the new agreement, he begins astronaut training in both Europe and the United States starting this month. The mission carrying him is designated Vast-PAM-1, Vast's sixth private astronaut mission to the ISS. It will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a Crew Dragon spacecraft, operating under NASA's private-astronaut-mission framework - the same mechanism that has allowed non-government crews to fly to the station in recent years. Golemis will not be alone in the capsule: the mission is commanded by Thomas Pesquet, the veteran French ESA astronaut, with Czech ESA project astronaut Aleš Svoboda serving as pilot and Golemis flying as mission specialist. Neither ESA's press release nor Vast's announcement gave a precise launch date beyond the 2027 target window; both said a fourth crew member has yet to be named, with an announcement expected soon. How a private mission becomes a national first. The arrangement illustrates how the private astronaut mission model has become a route for countries without their own crewed launch capability - or a deep bench of state astronauts - to put a national citizen in orbit. Rather than waiting for a seat to open on an ESA-run mission or negotiating bilaterally with a government space agency, Greece worked through Vast, a commercial operator, with ESA acting as the enabling and coordinating partner. Golemis's status as an existing ESA employee likely smoothed that path: he was already inside the agency's astronaut-support pipeline before this agreement made him a flight candidate himself. SpaceNews' report on the Paris announcement placed the deal inside a broader European narrative - one in which the continent is pushing toward more independent human-spaceflight capability, whether through commercial partnerships like this one, ESA's own astronaut corps, or future European crew vehicles still in development. A Greek astronaut riding a Vast-brokered, NASA-framework, SpaceX-launched mission is not evidence of full independence, but it does show a European nation reaching orbit without waiting on a state-run rocket program of its own. Why it matters. For Greece, this is a genuine milestone: no Greek national has flown to space before, and having a citizen aboard the ISS carries symbolic weight for a country investing in a still-young national space effort. The presence of both the Greek prime minister and the French president at the signing - not just space-agency officials - signals that governments increasingly treat these seats as diplomatic and economic assets worth showing up for in person, not just technical achievements. For the wider spaceflight industry, the deal is another data point in the maturing market for private astronaut missions to the ISS. Vast-PAM-1 will be the company's sixth such mission, suggesting a steady cadence has formed around flying non-agency crews to the station using commercial hardware and NASA's private-astronaut framework. Each flight adds to the case that seats on the ISS - and, eventually, its commercial successors - are becoming a purchasable, schedulable resource for countries and organizations that never built their own human spaceflight programs. It's also a reminder of how much still has to go right before any of this happens. Golemis's flight remains contingent on him passing final medical certification - a standard but non-trivial hurdle for any astronaut candidate - and the 2027 timeline is a target, not a locked launch date. Commander Thomas Pesquet's involvement gives the mission an experienced hand at the controls, which may ease some of the operational risk of flying a first-time national astronaut on a commercial mission. But until Golemis is certified and a launch date is set, the "historic moment" Aschbacher described is a signed agreement pointing toward a mission, not yet a completed one. Sources.