On this day: 19 May 1975, a satellite ground station at Villafranca del Castillo, Spain, built for the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite, became the first to be assigned to the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO), the forerunner of ESA. Since then, the network – Estrack – has expanded Worldwide and was later joined by similar stations in Sweden, Spain, French Guiana, Portugal, Belgium and Australia, all optimised for tracking satellites or launchers near Earth. The original Villafranca location has since become the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), ESA’s major establishment in Spain. Read more about the history of Villafranca here: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/operations/Estrack/Four_decades_of_tracking_European_spacecraft
On this day: 19 May 1975, a satellite ground station at Villafranca del Castillo, Spain, built for the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite, became the first to be assigned to the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO), the forerunner of ESA. Since then, the network – Estrack – has expanded worldwide and was later joined by similar stations in Sweden, Spain, French Guiana, Portugal, Belgium and Australia, all optimised for tracking satellites or launchers near Earth. The original Villafranca location has since become the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), ESA’s major establishment in Spain. Read more about the history of Villafranca here: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Estrack/Four_decades_of_tracking_European_spacecraft
