"At the latest ESA Ministerial meeting, where contributions and projects are discussed, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said it had secured €22.1 billion (£19.41 billion/ $25.69 billion) in commitments, close to the €22.25 billion target. The slight shortfall was due to substantial oversubscriptions in some areas and undersubscriptions in others. However, the UK's contribution fell from €1.876 billion (11.24 percent) in 2022 to €1.706 billion (7.78 percent)."
"The Space Transportation sector won big in the latest budget, attracting €4.439 billion against a proposed €3.895 billion. Human and Robotic Exploration - astronaut activities and missions to Mars - underperformed, securing €2.976 billion in funding commitments versus the requested €3.773 billion. The figure is still a slight increase, just not the jump ESA had proposed. Rosemary Coogan remains the only career UK astronaut in ESA's corps, alongside reserve Meganne Christian and John McFall."
ESA secured €22.1 billion in commitments at the Ministerial, missing a €22.25 billion target because of oversubscriptions in some areas and undersubscriptions in others. The UK's contribution fell from €1.876 billion (11.24%) in 2022 to €1.706 billion (7.78%), while Spain more than doubled its commitment and joined Germany, France and Italy as top contributors. Germany led with €5.067 billion, up from €3.476 billion. Space Transportation attracted €4.439 billion against a proposed €3.895 billion, and Human and Robotic Exploration received €2.976 billion versus a €3.773 billion request. ESA confirmed all five career astronauts from the 2022 intake will fly by 2030; Sophie Adenot is assigned to the ISS in 2026 and Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski flew to the ISS in June 2025.
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