Inside Airbus Defence and Space: Europe's 35,000-employee space prime behind Galileo, Copernicus, OneWeb, and the Orion service module that flew NASA astronauts around the Moon on Artemis II.
OHB builds Galileo satellites, Airbus assembles Orion modules, and Germany is pouring €35B into defense space — inside Europe's largest space industry.
From Chretien's 1982 Soyuz flight to Pesquet commanding the ISS, France built Europe's astronaut corps, satellite giants, and only independent military space.
How 23 nations with different languages, budgets, and priorities built Europe's space agency from Cold War wreckage into a global force launching Ariane 6.
Airbus, Thales Alenia, and OHB build the satellites powering Galileo, Copernicus, OneWeb, and Orion — inside Europe's $15B space industrial base that rivals the US.
GPS has generated $1.4 trillion in US economic value — here's how it works alongside Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, NavIC, and QZSS in 2026's six-system GNSS landscape.
