The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1975 to coordinate Europe's civil space programme. ESA works through 23 Member States, with associate and cooperation arrangements that connect partners such as Canada to selected programmes. Its work spans space science, Earth observation, telecommunications, navigation, launch systems, space safety, technology development, and European participation in human spaceflight. The agency is headquartered in Paris and operates major centres across Europe for engineering, mission operations, astronaut training, Earth-observation work, and launch-related activities.