Lost in space: ESOC always comes to the rescue

Since supporting its first launch in 1968, ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, has supported 51 spacecraft during the critical launch and early orbit phases of their missions, and nearly all of them throughout their subsequent operational phases. The great diversity of these missions has given ESOC a well-justified reputation as one of the world's leading control centres for unmanned spacecraft. Perhaps less well known is the contribution that ESOC has made to the rescue of many missions that have suffered major anomalies and would otherwise have had to be abandoned or would have failed to achieve their mission goals.