Go behind the scenes at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, and discover how space experiments are prepared long before they reach orbit. Meet the ECOS team, as Deputy Manager Salvi Verma shares how they work with scientists, engineers and astronauts to turn ideas into real missions aboard the International Space Station. From early planning on the ground to supporting astronauts like ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot during her Epsilon mission, this is how space science becomes reality.

This interview was recorded in March 2026.

Listen on all major podcast platforms.

Keep exploring with ESA Explores.

NASA astronauts on the International Space Station are preparing for a spacewalk to repair a robotic arm as advisers raise concerns about the long-term health of the station and spacesuits.

SAN FRANCISCO – Weather Stream, a Boulder, Colorado, commercial weather satellite operator, is collecting global atmospheric observations with its GEMS2-Amethyst satellite.

For years, small satellite manufacturers have built their business plans around the idea that SpaceX could launch their payload to space.