Dear Reader,

The Internet information on the space programmes that are under the responsibility of the ESA Directorate of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity has been re-organised and restructured. It is now presented in two separate sites which are accessible through the following ULR addresses: 

(1) http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/

(2) http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users.  

The first site http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/) addresses the general public and the media. It explains the reasons for the European participation in the International Space Station and presents the European elements which are part of the project. This site also comprises all the information on the activities of the European astronauts. You can directly access these new astronaut pages by following the link to http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/astronauts.html

The second site (http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users) is dedicated to the scientific, industrial and commerical communities who require detailed information about the utilisation of the International Space Station and the experiment facilities on the Station available for European users. This site also covers other research facilities and space missions which are under the responsibility of or accessible through the Directorate of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity, such as Space Shuttle missions, parabolic flight campaigns with the European A300 Zero-G aircraft, sounding rocket and Foton flights and the use of drop towers. The site contains the latest Announcements of Opporunity, which give details of how to apply for access to all these facilities. 

The "Users" site has undergone over the last months a complete re-engineering. The structure has been completed in the meantime, but now we are working on filling the structure with content. We intend to have this work completed by January/February 2002. During the transition time, you will still encounter a lot of empty and "under construction" pages. We apologize for this inconvenience. In a second step, as soon as we have the pages filled with content, we will concentrate on making the navigation as user-friendly as posssible. We thank  you for your understanding and patience.