The European Space Agency has launched an advanced telescope designed to detect a billion stars and provide the most detailed map yet of the Milky Way and our place in it.

A European spacecraft carried out a close flyby of Mars today, a crucial manoeuvre in its meandering, 10-year voyage through the solar system to make the first soft landing on a comet

Europe’s first spacecraft to the moon ended its three-year mission today by crashing into the lunar surface in a volcanic plane called the Lake of Excellence, to a round of applause in the mission control room.

Europe’s pioneering mission to chase down a comet and land a probe on its surface blasted off today, beginning a perilous 12-year trek through the solar system.

The break-up of the space shuttle Columbia on Saturday was the latest in a series of accidents since space exploration began in 1957 with the launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite.