This year for International Women’s Day, we showcase some of the women from the European Space Agency’s most recent female leadership recruits: Céline Begon, Christine Boelsche, Céline Folsché and Ildiko Raczne Szoke.

Week in images: 02-06 March 2026

Discover our week through the lens

An anomaly onboard the Proba-3 mission’s Coronagraph spacecraft led to loss of contact between the spacecraft and ground control. The root cause of the anomaly is under investigation and mission teams are working hard to recover the situation. 

New AI Hub to empower space-enabled connectivity

Timelapse showing the steps to build the most powerful version of Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket on the launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

The video shows the central core of the rocket arriving at the launch pad on 21 January 2026, where it was raised upright and placed on the launch table on the same day.

Then launch technicians added the first booster, second booster, third booster and the final, fourth booster over ending on the 22 January. Next the upper part including the 32 Amazon Leo satellites was added to the top of the rocket on