In a fitting addition to the publications for this 50th anniversary year, we have just opened the collection of photographs from 1980, the year in which the ESA Convention entered into force, setting the final seal of the creation of the European Space Agency.
The year was, in fact, bookended by two different achievements for ESA. It began in the immediate aftermath of the first launch of Ariane-1, on 24 December 1979, and closed with the roll-out ceremony for Spacelab, the European space laboratory and the other project in this pair of early flagship programmes for ESA.
With the Ariane launch taking place so late in the previous year, and as a result of the (well-deserved) Christmas break for those involved, some of the pictures were processed only in the following January. They therefore form part of the 1980 collection, along with photographs from the second launch, which took place on 23 May. (However, as we noted for the 1979 pictures, we are unable to open launch photos where we do not know the photographer’s name. We would be delighted to hear from any readers with information on who might have taken launch pictures for ESA!) Among the open photos is a series taken at an event for the maiden launch at ESTEC, where some of ESA’s top management, such as Technical Director and Director of ESTEC Massimo Trella, are juxtaposed in the same frame as a member of staff with his young daughter.
Inspiring the next generation is the theme of another set of photos, which also fills in the backstory of a publication that we talked about in February. Our recently-opened collection of ESA-SP publications included the catalogue for a November 1980 art exhibition, which took place in Paris and was made up of the winners of a competition for European youth on the theme of Man and Space. Its introduction explains how national selection committees narrowed down the entries for each participating country. The five winning entries for the Netherlands were included in the exhibition and their creators received prizes which included visits to industry partners ERNO and Fokker, models of the Space Shuttle and books on space.
The ESA photographers captured the Dutch prize-giving ceremony, which was organised during a space exhibition in Naarden. The guest of honour (and prize-giver) was Wubbo Ockels, ESA payload specialist candidate for Spacelab, who went on to become the first Dutch citizen in space in 1985.
Other highlights include images of outreach to industry at the Farnborough Air Show, and the outcome of cooperation with industry in the construction and testing of satellites and spacecraft including the European Communications Satellite, ECS, European X-Ray Observatory Satellite, Exosat, International Solar Polar Mission, and maritime communication satellite Marecs. The photos also map development of the space telescope that would be renamed Hubble in 1983.
There are also some firsts in the collection: what we think is probably the first appearance in the photos of the Giotto spacecraft, along with the first of ESA’s Director Generals (Erik Quistgaard) to take a seat in the Spacelab sled!
While there are no photographs of the entry into force of the Convention itself, since it was a procedural step rather than an event, an ESA sticker from 1980 tells a related story. It shows the ESA logo surrounded by 11 flags: those of the ten founding Member States of ESA and of Ireland. The group of ten had signed the ESA Convention on 30 May 1975; Ireland subsequently signed the Convention on 31 December 1975 and concluded an 'ad hoc' agreement with the Agency for the transitional period. Following the entry into force, and once Ireland had deposited its instrument of ratification in December 1980, it officially became ESA’s eleventh Member State.
More information
To browse the new images, simply search for ‘1980’ in the SHIP database, or refer to our highlight on SHIP for additional details of its functionalities.
View the Man and Space exhibition catalogue and photos from the Dutch prize-giving in SHIP.
