14 June

1962: On 14 June 1962, the signing of convention of the new European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) took place. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom signed the convention in Paris. ESRO launched the European scientific satellite programme in the period 1969-73. The long and painstaking process of the starting of the European space cooperation ultimately led, in 1975, to the birth of the European Space Agency.