Soyuz  is a family of expendable launch systems developed by OKB-1, and manufactured by TsSKB-Progress in Samara, Russia. 

The launch services are commercialised by the company Starsem.

The Soyuz launch vehicle family has provided reliable and efficient launch services since the birth of the space program. Vehicles in this family, which have launched both the first satellite and first man into space, have been credited with more than 1000 launches. Today, this vehicle is used for manned and unmanned flights to the International Space Station and commercial launches.

SPOT (Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre, lit. "Satellite for Earth Observation") is a high-resolution, optical imaging Earth observation satellite system operating from space. It is run by Spot Image based in Toulouse, France. It was initiated by the CNES (Centre national d'études spatiales — the French space agency) in the 1970s.

The European remote sensing satellite (ERS) was the European Space Agency's first Earth-observing satellite, injected into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit at a height of 782–785 km.

ERS-1 and ERS–2 were launched into the same orbit in 1991 and 1995 respectively. Their payloads included a synthetic aperture imaging radar, radar altimeter and instruments to measure ocean surface temperature and wind fields.

ERS-2 added an additional sensor for atmospheric ozone monitoring. The two satellites acquired a combined data set extending over two decades.

The Landsat program is the longest running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth.

On July 23, 1972 the Earth Resources Technology Satellite was launched. This was eventually renamed to Landsat. 

The most recent, Landsat 7, was launched on April 15, 1999. The instruments on the Landsat satellites have acquired millions of images. The images, archived in the USA and at Landsat receiving stations around the world, are a unique resource for global change research and applications in agriculture, cartography, geology, forestry, regional planning, surveillance, education and national security. 

Ariane is a series of a European civilian expendable launch vehicles for space launch use. The name comes from the French spelling of the mythological character Ariane.

The Satellite Control and Operation System 2000 (SCOS-2000) is the generic satellite Mission Control System (MCS) software infrastructure developed and maintained by the European Space Agency (ESA/ESOC) in collaboration with European industry

Serco is an international service company in markets as diverse as defence, transport, civil government, science, ...

Serco Group plc is a company registered in England and Wales.

ESOC is the European Space Operations Centre, one of the centres of the European Space Agency (ESA).

Since its creation in 1967, the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, has planned missions, operated more than 60 satellites and ensured that spacecraft meet their mission objectives. The mandate of ESOC is to conduct mission operations for ESA satellites and to establish, operate and maintain the necessary ground segment infrastructure.

The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. It is situated in Noordwijk, South Holland, in the Netherlands.

At ESTEC, about 2500 engineers, technicians and scientists work hands-on with mission design, spacecraft and space technology.

ESTEC provides extensive testing facilities to verify the proper operation of spacecraft, such as the Large Space Simulator (LSS), acoustic and electromagnetic testing bays, multi-axis vibration tables and the ESA Propulsion Laboratory (EPL). Prior to the launch of almost all equipment that ESA launches is tested in some degree at ESTEC.

The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 19 member states.

Headquartered in Paris, ESA has a staff of more than 2,000 (2012).

ESA's space flight program includes human spaceflight, mainly through the participation in the International Space Station program, the launch and operations of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon, Earth observation, science, telecommunication as well as maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana, and designing launch vehicles. The main European launch vehicle Ariane 5 is operated through Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching and further developing this launch vehicle.

ESA is managing several centres distrbuted in Europe:

• ESTEC: the ESA science missions are based at ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands,
• ESRIN: the Earth Observation missions at ESRIN in Frascati, Italy,
• ESOC: the ESA Mission Control (ESOC) is in Darmstadt, Germany,
• EAC: the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) that trains astronauts for future missions is situated in Cologne, Germany,
• ESAC: and the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) is located in Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain.