A-Z of European Space

The first decades: 1959-1994

Personalities Organisations Projects
  • 1954 – Graduated in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (Livorno Naval Academy, University of Pisa)
  • 1954 – Started career as Engineer in the Italian Navy
  • 1959-1960 – Postgraduate Studies at the Institute for Higher Studies in Telecommunications, Rome
  • 1967-1971 – Joined ELDO in 1967 as Engineer in the Technical Coordination Department for the development of the second stage of EUROPA, became Deputy Director of the ELDO launch pad (1969) and Head of the Operations and Launch Pad Division (1971)
  • 1973-1976  – Head of Operations for the Spacelab Study Group (1973), Deputy Spacelab Project Manager (1976)
  • 1978 – Deputy Project Director for ESA at ESTEC
  • 1980 – Hipparcos Project Manager at ESTEC
  • 1986 – Became Head of the Columbus Programme Department for ESA
  • 1993-1997 – ESA Director of Observation of the Earth and its Environment

Through the course of his career in ELDO, and subsequently within ESA, Emiliani gained experience of many of the Agency's activities, in particular in the field of management of large projects, including the Columbus Programme which was at the core of the European participation in the International Space Station. After official endorsement of collaboration with the US by the Rome Council meeting in 1985, negotiations on the draft US-European memorandum for Phase-B were conducted by Frederik Engström with the support of Emiliani and the final text was unanimously approved by the ESA Council on 24-25 April.

  • 1965-1970 - ESRO fellow at the Culham Laboratory in England and Research Assistant at the Stockholm Observatory
  • 1972-1985 - First President of the Swedish Space Corporation
  • Board Member of the Kiruna Geophysical Institute and Chairman of the Board of the Satellite Image Corporation in Kiruna
  • 1985 - ESA Director of Space Station and Platforms, directing Columbus project
  • 1994-2001 - ESA Director of Launchers

It was under Engström’s tenure at the Swedish Space Corporation that it took over the operation of the launch facilities at ESRANGE in Kiruna, Sweden, until then operated by ESRO.

Engström had various contact with ESA prior to his appointment as Director of Space Station and Platforms in 1985: from 1977 to 1979 he was Chairman of ESA’s Remote Sensing Programme Board, and from 1979 to 1985 he was Swedish delegate to the Council. He was Director of Launchers from 1994 until his retirement in 2001.

See also: Interview with Fredrik Engström from the Oral History of Europe in Space Collection