Europe Must Launch Its Own ‘Crewed Spaceflight’ Programme, Says Macron

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Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Europe to build its own crewed spaceflight capability within a decade to strengthen the continent's fragile space sector. 

Speaking at an international space summit in Paris, Macron urged European nations to assert greater ambition and end their reliance on foreign spacecraft.

Macron outlined a series of key milestones for the European space programme over the next ten years. Within two years, he aims for Europe's first cargo capsule, Nyx, to dock with the International Space Station, followed by the Argonaut lander touching down on the Moon in five years.

The ultimate milestone is launching the first European manned capsule from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana in ten years. This flagship mission would carry both European astronauts and international partners aboard European-built technology.

Europe has never sent a manned mission into space, long relying on rockets from Russia and the United States. 

The renewed push follows a record 22.1-billion-euro budget secured by the European Space Agency, even as major American space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin snubbed the Paris gathering.