• 1953 – Doctorate in physics from the University of Rome
• 1955-1959 - worked at the Nuclear Physics Division of Argonne National Laboratory, USA
• 1959-1966 - Research Physicist at the Plasma Physics Laboratory of Princeton University
• 1966 - Leader of the Plasma Physics Group at the Research Establishment, Risø, in Røskilde, Denmark
• 1968-1972 - Senior Scientist, then Deputy Director and in 1970 Director of ESRIN
• 1972-1976 - Leader of the Plasma Physics Group at the Danish Space Research Institute in Lyngby, Denmark
• 1976-2006 - Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa, until his retirement

• 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

• 1968 – Various positions in the MAN Group in Germany, one of Europe's largest mechanical engineering companies. Began as Design Engineer and eventually became Senior Vice President and General Manager.
• 1986-1994 – ESA Director of Space Transportation Systems
• 1994-2004 – ESA Director of Manned Space and Microgravity
• 2005-2007 – ESA Director of Reforms
• 2007 – Consultant to various national and international research organisations

During his 19 years at the MAN groups Feustel-Büechl was involved in Ariane development since the beginning of the programme in 1973. He made essential contributions to the development and production of the Ariane launcher system and supported the foundation of Arianespace, of which he was a board member. He joined ESA in November 1986 as Director of Space Transportation Systems, responsible for the Ariane programmes and for ESA activities concerning human spaceflight. From 1994 as Director for Manned Space and Microgravity he held responsibility for all ESA activities relating to European astronauts, the International Space Station, and microgravity research and application programmes. In 2004 he moved to ESA HQ in Paris to assist the Director General as Director of Reforms until 2007, introducing inter-directorate changes to reinforce the role and efficiency of the Agency.

See also: Interview with Jörg Feustel-Büechl from the Oral History of Europe in Space Collection

• 1957-1986 - official in the German Federal Ministry for Research and Technology
• 1975-1978 - Chairman of the ESA Council

Finke represented the Federal Republic of Germany in ESRO and ESA during the 1970s. From 1973, he led the Division for Space, Aeronautical Research, Polar Research, Oceanography, and Transportation Systems within the Ministry and headed the German delegation to the Council of ESRO and ESA. From 1975 to 1978, he chaired the ESA Council, and in that capacity was Chairman at Delegate Level of ESA’s first Council at Ministerial Level in 1977. He also represented Germany in the preparation of the Rome conference of the ESA Council in 1985.

See also: Interview with Wolfgang Finke from the Oral History of Europe in Space Collection

• Graduated in Electrical Engineering from Milan Polytechnic
• 1959-1969 – Director of CGE – General Electric Milan, responsible for the organisation and management of information systems
• 1969-1973 – Director of ITALSIEL, leading Italian software company
• 1962-1973 – Professor of Hydraulics at the Catholic University of Milan (1962-1970) and Professor of Engineering at the University of Ancona (1971-1973)
• 1973-1979 – ESRO and ESA’s Director of ESOC

Professor Formica was appointed ESRO’s Director of ESOC in May 1973, he was the third head of ESOC and the second Italian in the post. His Directorship covered the period of the formation of ESA (in 1975) and a series of important launches. With the creation of ESA, the Directorate of ESOC managed information handling and the operations and the ground equipment engineering.

• 1970 – PhD in applied physics from the University of Ghent
• 1971-1972 – Post-doctoral studies at the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (ESRO research fellowship)
• 1965-1978 – Head of Section Instrumentation for the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy
• 1978-1992 – Selected as an ESA Astronaut candidate. ESA Astronaut on the STS-45 mission in 1992
• 1990s? – Director of Research at Belgacom, the Belgian telecommunications company

Frimout was selected as an astronaut candidate by ESA in 1977. During his training he worked at the Microgravity Division of ESTEC on the the sounding rocket programme, parabolic flights, EURECA experiments, and Spacelab-1 experiments. He was nominated as an alternate payload specialist for the STS-61-K flight, but that mission was canceled after the Challenger disaster in 1986. In 1989 NASA selected him as the backup payload specialist for the STS-45 mission (a renamed version of STS-61-K).

He subsequently became a primary crew member and flew as a Payload Specialist on the ATLAS-1 STS-45 Shuttle Mission in 1992. He was the first Belgian in space. The mission was the first flight of the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-1 (ATLAS-1), its 12 experiments made extremely detailed measurements of the chemical and physical properties of the atmosphere with Frimout supervising the European experiments. On his return he became Senior Engineer in the Payload Utilisation Department of the Columbus Directorate.

• 1987 – Doctorate in experimental particle physics from the University of Stockholm
• 1988 – Fellow of CERN, working on the CPLEAR experiment studying the subtle CP-violation of Kaon particles. Subsequently Senior Fellow and head of the particle identification subdetector
• 1990 – Obtained a position at the Manne Siegbahn Institute of Physics, Stockholm, but remained at CERN for another year working on the Large Hadron Collider project
• 1991 – Associate Professor in particle physics at the University of Stockholm
• 1992 – Joined ESA’s Astronaut Corps, ESA Astronaut on two missions from 2006 to 2009
• 2006 – Appointed Affiliated Professor at KTH - the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology

Fuglesang joined the ESA Astronaut Corps in 1992. He followed introductory training at EAC and the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia. In 1993 he was selected for the EuroMir-95 mission and in 1995, was selected as a member of Crew 2 for EuroMir-95. He was the prime Crew Interface Coordinator working at the Russian Mission Control Centre in Kaliningrad.

In 1996, he entered the Mission Specialist Class at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and qualified for flight assignment as a Mission Specialist in 1998. He was also awarded the ‘Soyuz Return Commander’ certificate in 1998, qualifying him to command a three-person Soyuz capsule on its return from space.

In 2006, Fuglesang flew as Mission Specialist on Space Shuttle Discovery for flight STS-116 to the International Space Station for the Celsius mission, becoming the first Swedish astronaut to fly in space. In 2009 he returned to the Space Station on flight STS-128 as part of the Alissé mission. He has completed five spacewalks totalling over 30 hours. In May 2010, he became Head of the Science and Application Division within the Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations at ESTEC.

• 1962 – Degree in Physics from University of Madrid
• 1962 – Five month scholarship at CERN
• 1962-1966 – specialised in electronics and automatic control for the Junta de Energia Nuclear, Madrid (the Spanish Nuclear Energy Commission), and undertook postgraduate work at the Philips International Institute of Technological Studies, Eindhoven from 1964-1966
• 1966-1968 – Petrochemical process control for LUMMUS company, Madrid
• 1968-1975 – INTA-NASA, Madrid, working on the set up and operation of the NASA Apollo stations in Maspalomas and Madrid
• 1975 – Joined ESRO as Head of the Operations Department at ESOC
• 1991-1997 – ESA Director of Operations and Director of ESOC until retirement in 1997

In 1968, Castañer joined the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aerospacial (INTA, Spain). After a period at the Goddard Space Flight Center, he subsequently worked at the Canary Islands and Madrid Apollo tracking Stations of the NASA Manned Space Flight Network, where he became head of the telemetry department and later Head of Operations.

He joined ESRO in March 1975 as Head of the Operations Department, with responsibilities including the operations of all ESA satellites, managing the network of ground stations and control centres and providing services and products to users of the science and applications missions. From 1975 to 1997, ESOC successfully operated 26 missions (including particularly demanding missions such as Giotto, the recovery of Geos and Hipparcos or the two ERS missions) and reached a peak in activity in 1992 when it was simultaneously operating 16 satellites.

• 1948-1958 - served in UK Colonial Administrative Service in Malaya
• 1959-1967 - UK Atomic Energy Authority
• 1967-1981 - various positions within ESRO/ESA: Head of Administration and Deputy Director of the Technical Centre ESTEC (1967), ESRO Director of Administration (1971), Acting ESRO Director General (1974), and first Director General of ESA (1975-1981)
• 1985-1987 - first Director General of the British National Space Centre
• 1987-1992 - worked at INMARSAT and EUMETSAT.
• 1990s onwards - aerospace consultant to the EU Commission and involved with set up of the European Environmental Agency; Head of the D6 XI Task Force for the EEA from 1991

Gibson joined ESRO in 1967 as Deputy Director of ESTEC, becoming ESRO’s Director of Administration in 1971. From 1974 he was Acting Director General of ESRO, and oversaw the transition of ESRO and ELDO to form ESA in 1975. He was ESA’s first Director-General 1975 to 1981 and took part in the first Council at Ministerial level in 1977, the first ESA mission in China in 1979 and the first launch of Ariane in Kourou in 1979.

See also: Interview with Roy Gibson from the Oral History of Europe in Space Collection