Every European astronaut who reaches orbit today does it on someone else’s spacecraft. ESA director general Josef Aschbacher wants that to change, and he’s put a number on it: about €10 billion over ten years.
On 15 December, ESA’s member states meet in Rome for the Intermediate Ministerial Meeting 2026. They’ll decide whether to back a European system that can carry astronauts into orbit and bring them home.
The investment would build a crewed transport and return capability. This is an estimation; the actual budgetary allocation has yet to be decided.
According to Aschbacher, continuing to procure services from outside providers will cost European taxpayers roughly €5 billion during the same period. The figures are not an apples-to-apples comparison; while €5 billion gives access, €10 billion provides capability owned by Europe.
Aschbacher has also stated that SpaceX intends to decommission Falcon 9 and the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which currently carry European astronauts to the International Space Station, by 2029.
Autonomy also requires rocket reliability. Europe has its own Ariane 6 for heavy payloads and Vega-C for light payloads. Vega-C launched the FLEX and Sentinel-3C satellites in September 2026.
SpaceX has set the bar of competition with regular launches and reusable rockets. For rockets from Europe, it needs to compete by being comparable in cost, availability, and launch turnaround times. On 5 September 2026, Isar Aerospace, of Germany, made a breakthrough with its Spectrum rocket when it successfully entered space for the first time carrying five small satellites and one experiment. Its first launch, in March 2025, failed after 30 seconds.
On 10 September 2026, ESA contracted The Exploration Company with an order of €760 million concerning the next stage of the ALADDIN project and the Nyx capsule. Out of this sum, €310 million goes for demonstrating the mission to the International Space Station, and a remaining €450 million goes for two other missions.
ESA is becoming a customer, not just a funder.
The International Space Station is due to end operations by 2030, and commercial projects for new low-orbit stations are taking shape. Europe also wants a role on the Moon, with Mars beyond.
