euesa1-2, Exercise 1: The two predecessors

Model answer:

ESRO, the European Space Research Organisation, was for space science: it built and launched scientific satellites and set up technical centres that ESA still uses. It was broadly successful.

ELDO, the European Launcher Development Organisation, was meant to give Europe its own rocket (Europa). It suffered repeated launch failures and was wound up.

The two were merged into ESA in the mid-1970s.

Check the founding years in ESA's own history pages.