Editing European Space Agency (section)

==Mission==
The treaty establishing the European Space Agency reads:<ref name="European Space Agency-2007">{{cite web |url=https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Corporate_news/ESA_s_Purpose |title=ESA's Purpose |publisher=European Space Agency |date=14 June 2007 |access-date=6 September 2014 |archive-date=10 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910021142/http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ESA_s_Purpose |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{blockquote|Article II, Purpose, Convention of establishment of a European Space Agency, SP-1271(E) from 2003 -- The purpose of the Agency shall be to provide for and to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes, cooperation among European States in space research and technology and their space applications, with a view to their being used for scientific purposes and for operational space applications systems…}}

The ESA is responsible for setting a unified space and related industrial policy, recommending space objectives to the member states, and integrating national programs like satellite development, into the European program as much as possible.<ref name="European Space Agency-2007" />

[[Jean-Jacques Dordain]] – ESA's Director General (2003–2015) – outlined the European Space Agency's mission in a 2003 interview:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jaxa.jp/news_topics/interview/vol4/index_e.html |title=Launching a New Era with JAXA: Interview with Jean-Jacques Dordain |publisher=[[JAXA]] |date=31 October 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050706132534/http://www.jaxa.jp//news_topics/interview/vol4/index_e.html |archive-date=6 July 2005 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|Today space activities have pursued the benefit of citizens, and citizens are asking for a better quality of life on Earth. They want greater security and economic wealth, but they also want to pursue their dreams, to increase their knowledge, and they want younger people to be attracted to the pursuit of science and technology.

I think that space can do all of this: it can produce a higher quality of life, better security, more economic wealth, and also fulfill our citizens' dreams and thirst for knowledge, and attract the young generation. This is the reason space exploration is an integral part of overall space activities. It has always been so, and it will be even more important in the future.}}