Editing Fokker (section)

===Aerospace===
In 1967, Fokker started a modest space division building parts for European [[satellite]]s. A major advance came in 1968 when Fokker developed the first Dutch satellite (the [[Astronomical Netherlands Satellite]]) together with [[Philips]] and Dutch universities. This was followed by a second major satellite project, [[IRAS]],  successfully launched in 1983. The [[European Space Agency]] in June 1974 named a consortium headed by [[Entwicklungsring Nord|ERNO]]-[[VFW-Fokker GmbH]] to build pressurized modules for [[Spacelab]].

Subsequently, Fokker contributed to many European satellite projects, as well as to the [[Ariane (rocket)|Ariane rocket]] in its various models. Together with a Russian contractor, they developed the huge parachute system for the [[Ariane 5]] rocket boosters which would allow the boosters to return to Earth safely and be reused.

The space division became more and more independent, until just before Fokker's bankruptcy in 1996, it became a fully stand-alone corporation, known successively as Fokker Space and Systems, Fokker Space, and Dutch Space. On 1 January 2006, it was taken over by [[EADS]]-Space Transportation.