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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_agencies

This is a list of government agencies engaged in activities related to outer space and space exploration.

The name given is the English version, with the native language version below. The acronym given is the most common acronym: this can either be the acronym of the English version (e.g. JAXA), or the acronym in the native language. Where there are multiple acronyms in common use, the English one is given first.

The date of the founding of the space agency is the date of first operations where possible. If the space agency is no longer running, then the date when it was terminated (i.e. the last day of operations) is given. A link to the Agency's primary website is also given.

Color legend

The capabilities of the space agencies are color-coded as follows:      Manned Extraterrestrial Exploration + Operates Space Station + Manned Space Flight + Operates Extraterrestrial Probes + Launch Capability + Operates Satellites      Operates Space Station + Manned Space Flight + Operates Extraterrestrial Probes + Launch Capability + Operates Satellites      Manned Space Flight + Operates Extraterrestrial Probes + Launch Capability + Operates Satellites      Operates Extraterrestrial Probes + Launch Capability + Operates Satellites      Launch Capability + Operates Satellites      Operates Satellites      None Of The Above

List of space agencies capable of conducting basic space activities

Space agency		Country	Foun- ded	Termi- nated	Capabilities of the space agency
Name	Acro- nym				Astro-nauts	Opera-tes Satelli-tes	Sound-ing Rockets capable	Recove-rable Biolo-gical Sound-ing Rockets capable
Aeronautics and Space Research and Diffusion Center (Spanish: Centro de Investigación y Difusión Aeronáutico-Espacial)	CIDA-E	Uruguay	5 August 1975	—	No	No	No	No
French: Agence Spatiale Algérienne Arabic: الوكالة الفضائية الجزائرية‎ (Algerian Space Agency)	ASAL	Algeria	16 January 2002	—	No	Yes	No	No
Asia Pacific Multilateral Cooperation in Space Technology and Applications (Chinese: 亚太空间技术应 用多边合作会议)	AP-MCSTA	International  China  Pakistan  Thailand	February 1992	—	No	Yes	No	No
Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (Japanese: アジア太平洋地 域宇宙機関会議)	APRSAF	International  Australia  Bangladesh  Brunei  Bhutan  Canada  Cambodia  China  France  Germany  India  Indonesia  Japan  Laos  Malaysia  Mongolia  Myanmar  Nepal  New Zealand  Pakistan  Philippines  Russia  Singapore  South Korea  Sri Lanka  Thailand  United States  Vietnam	1993	—	No	Yes	No	No
Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (Chinese: 亚太空间合作组织)	APSCO	International  Bangladesh  China  Indonesia  Iran  Mongolia  Pakistan  Peru  Thailand  Turkey	28 October 2005	—	No	Yes	No	No
German: Agentur für Luft- und Raumfahrt (Aeronautics and Space Agency; also Austrian Space Agency; (Austrian Solar and Space Agency 1977–1987)	ALR	Austria	12 July 1972	—	No	No	No	No
Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Milli Aerokosmik Agentliyinin (Azerbaijan National Aerospace Agency)	AMAKA	Azerbaijan	21 February 1992	—	No	No	No	No
Dutch: Belgisch Instituut voor Ruimte-Aëronomie French: Institut d’Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique (Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy)	BIRA IASB BISA	Belgium	25 November 1964	—	No	No	No	No
Spanish: Agencia Bolivariana para Actividades Espaciales (Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities)	ABAE	Venezuela	1 January 2008	—	No	Yes	No	No
Portuguese: Agência Espacial Brasileira (Brazilian Space Agency)	AEB	Brazil	10 February 1994	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
British National Space Centre	BNSC	United Kingdom	20 November 1985	—	No	Yes	Yes	No
Bulgarian: Българска академия на науките; Институт за космически изследвания (Space Research Institute; Bulgarian Aerospace Agency)	ИКИ-БАН SRI-BAS	Bulgaria	1993	—	Yes	Yes	No	No
Canadian Space Agency French: Agence spatiale canadienne	CSA ASC	Canada	1 March 1989	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
China National Space Administration (Chinese: 中华人民共和国 国家航天局)	CNSA	People's Republic of China	22 April 1993	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spanish: Comisión Colombiana del Espacio (Colombian Space Commission)	CCE	Colombia	18 July 2006	—	No	Yes	No	No
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation	CSIRO	Australia	1926	—	No	Yes	No	No
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems	CCSDS	International Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) British National Space Centre (BNSC) Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) China National Space Admini-stration (CNSA) Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR) esa European Space Agency (ESA) Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) National Aeronautics and Space Admini-stration (NASA) Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA)	1982	—	No	No	No	No
Committee on Space Research	COSPAR	International  Argentina  Armenia  Australia  Austria  Belgium  Bulgaria  Brazil  Canada  China  Republic of China (Taiwan)  Czech Republic  Denmark  Egypt  Spain  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Hungary  India  Indonesia  Iran  Israel  Italy  Japan  Mexico  Netherlands  Nigeria  Norway  Pakistan  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Russia  Slovakia  South Africa  Sweden  Switzerland  Thailand  Turkey  Ukraine  United Kingdom  United States esa European Space Agency UNESCO	1958	—	No	No	No	No
Czech: Česká kosmická kancelář (Czech Space Office)	ČKK CSO	Czech Republic	Nov 2003	—	No	No	No	No
Danish: Danmarks Rumcenter (Danish National Space Center)	DRC DNSC	Denmark	1 Jan 1968	31 Dec 2006	Yes	No	No	No
Danish: Dansk Rumforskningsinstitut (Danish Space Research Institute)	DRKI DSRI	Denmark	1 Jan 2005	31 Dec 2006	No	No	No	No
Danish: Danmarks Tekniske Universitet - Institut for Rumforskning og -teknologi (Technical University of Denmark - National Space Institut)	DTU Space	Denmark	1 Jan 2006	—	Yes	No	No	No
European Space Agency (French: Agence spatiale européenne) (German: Europäische Weltraumorganisation)	ESA ASE EWO	esa  Austria  Belgium  Czech Republic  Denmark  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Ireland  Italy  Luxembourg  Netherlands  Norway  Portugal  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  United Kingdom	31 May 1975	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency (Spanish: Agencia Espacial Civil Ecuatoriana)	EXA	Ecuador	1 Nov 2007	—	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Thai: สำนักงานพัฒนาเทคโน โลยีอวกาศและภูมิสารสนเทศ)	GISTDA สทอภ	Thailand	2 Nov 2002	—	No	Yes	No	No
German: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center)	DLR	Germany	1969	—	No	Yes	No	No
Hungarian: Magyar Űrkutatási Iroda (Hungarian Space Office)	MŰI HSO	Hungary	Jan 1992	—	No	No	No	No
Indian Space Research Organization (Hindi: भारतीय अंतरिक्ष अनुसंधान संगठन)	ISRO इसरो	India	August 15, 1969	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Greek: Ινστιτούτο Διαστημικών Εφαρμογών και Τηλεπισκόπησης (Institute for Space Applications and Remote Sensing)	ΙΔΕΤ ISARS	Greece	1955	—	No	Yes	No	No
Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial	INTA	Spain	1942	—	No	Yes	Yes	No
Iranian Space Agency (Persian: سازمان فضایی ایران)	ISA	Iran	2004	—	No	Yes	Yes	No
Israeli Space Agency (Hebrew: סוכנות החלל הישראלית‎) (Arabic: وكالة الفضاء الإسرائيلية‎)	ISA סל"ה	Israel	April 1983	—	No	Yes	Yes	No
Italian Space Agency (Italian: Agenzia Spaziale Italiana)	ASI	Italy	1988	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Japanese: 宇宙航空研究開発機構)	JAXA	Japan	1 October 2003	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Kazakh Space Research Institute	SRI	Kazakhstan	1991	—	No	No	No	No
Korean Committee of Space Technology (Korean: 조선우주공간기술위원회)	KCST	North Korea	2009?	—	No	No	Yes	No
Korea Aerospace Research Institute (Korean: 한국항공우주연구원)	KARI	South Korea	10 October 1989	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Malaysian National Space Agency (Malay: Agensi Angkasa Negara)	ANGKASA	Malaysia	2002	—	Yes	Yes	No	No
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	NASA	United States	1 October 1958	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (Arabic: الهيئة العامة للاستشعار عن بعد وعلوم الفضاء ‎)	NARRS	Egypt	1994	—	No	Yes	No	No
French: Centre National d’Études Spatiales (National Center of Space Research]])	CNES	France	19 Dec 1961	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Spanish: Comisión Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Aeroespacial (National Commission for Aerospace Research and Development)	CONIDA	Peru	11 June 1974	—	No	No	No	No
Spanish: Comisión Nacional del Espacio Exterior (National Commission for Outer Space)	CONEE	Mexico	1976	—	No	No	No	No
Spanish: Comisión Nacional de Investigaciones Espaciales (National Commission for Space Research)	CNIE	Argentina	1961	1991	No	No	Yes	Yes
Spanish: Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (National Space Activities Commission)	CONAE	Argentina	28 May 1991	—	No	Yes	Yes	No
Indonesian: Lembaga Antariksa dan Penerbangan Nasional (National Institute of Aeronautics and Space)	LAPAN	Indonesia	27 Nov 1964	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
National Remote Sensing Center of Mongolia	NRSC	Mongolia	1987	—	No	No	No	No
French: Centre national de télédétection (Arabic: المركز الوطني للإستشعار عن بعد‎) (National Remote Sensing Center of Tunisia)	CNT	Tunisia	1988	—	No	No	No	No
Ukrainian: Національне космічне агентство України (Russian: Национальное космическое агентство Украины) (National Space Agency of Ukraine)	НКАУ НКАУ NSAU	Ukraine	2 March 1992	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
National Space Organization (Chinese: 國家太空中心)	NSPO	Republic of China (Taiwan)	October 1991	—	No	Yes	Yes	No
National Space Research and Development Agency	NASRDA	Nigeria	1998	—	No	Yes	No	No
Dutch: Stichting Ruimteonderzoek Nederland (Netherlands Institute for Space Research)	SRON	Netherlands	1983	—	No	No	No	No
Norwegian: Norsk Romsenter (Norwegian Space Centre)	NRS NSC	Norway	1987	—	No	Yes	Yes	No
Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Urdu: پاکستان خلائی و بالافضائی تحقی)	SUPARCO سپارکو	Pakistan	16 Sep 1961	—	No	Yes	Yes	No
Portuguese: Companhia Espacial Portuguesa (Portuguese Space Company)	CEP PSC	Portugal	1989	—	No	No	No	No
Romanian: Agenţia Spaţială Română (Romanian Space Agency)	ASR ROSA	Romania	1991	—	No	No	No	No
former Egypt Remote Sensing Center	EASRT-RSC	Egypt	1971	1994	No	No	No	No
French: Centre Royal de Télédétection Spatiale (Arabic: المركز الملكي للإستشعار البعدي الفضائي‎) (Royal Centre for Remote Sensing)	CRTS	Morocco	Dec 1989	—	No	No	No	No
Russian: Федеральное космическое агентство (Russian Federal Space Agency)	РФКА (Roscosmos) RFSA	Russia	c.1992	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Turkish: Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey)	TÜBİTAK	Turkey	1991	—	No	Yes	No	No
Russian: Советская космическая программа (Soviet space program)	СССР	Soviet Union	ca. 1955	ca. 1991	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization	SPARRSO	Bangladesh	1980	—	No	No	No	No
Polish: Centrum Badań Kosmicznych PAN (Space Research Centre)	CBK-PAN SRC	Poland	1977	—	No	Yes	No	No
Space Research Institute of Saudi Arabia (Arabic: معهد بحوث الفضاء ‎)	KACST-SRI	Saudi Arabia	—	—	No	Yes	No	No
Vietnamese: Viện Công nghệ vũ trụ (Space Technonogy Institute)	CNVT VAST-STI	Vietnam	20 Nov 2006	—	No	Yes	No	No
Swedish: Rymdstyrelsen (Swedish National Space Board)	SNSB	Sweden	1972	—	No	Yes	Yes	No
Swiss Space Office	SSO	Switzerland	—	—	No	No	No	No
United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs	UNOOSA	United Nations	13 Dec 1958	—	—	—	—	—
United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space	UNCOPUOS	Albania  Algeria  Argentina  Australia  Austria  Belgium  Benin  Bolivia  Brazil  Bulgaria  Burkina Faso  Cameroon  Canada  Chad  Chile  China  Colombia  Cuba  Czech Republic  Ecuador  Egypt  France  Hungary  Germany  Greece  India  Indonesia  Iran  Iraq  Italy  Japan  Kazakhstan  Kenya  Lebanon  Libya  Malaysia  Mexico  Mongolia  Netherlands  Nicaragua  Niger  Nigeria  Pakistan  Peru  Philippines  Poland  Portugal  South Korea  Romania  Russia  Saudi Arabia  Senegal  Sierra Leone  Slovakia  South Africa  Spain  Sudan  Sweden  Switzerland  Syria  Thailand  Turkey  United Kingdom  United States  Ukraine  Uruguay  Venezuela  Vietnam	12 Dec 1959	—	—	—	—	—

List of space agencies capable of conducting intermediate space activities

Space agency		Country	Foun-ded	Termi- nated	Capabilities of the space agency
Name	Acro-nym				Launch capable	Multiple Satelli-tes Launch capable	Operates Extra-errestrial Probe	Recove-rable Satellites capable
China National Space Administration (Chinese: 中华人民共和国国家航天局)	CNSA	People's Republic of China	22 April 1993	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
European Space Agency (French: Agence spatiale européenne) (German: Europäische Weltraumorganisation)	ESA ASE EWO	esa  Austria  Belgium  Czech Republic  Denmark  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Ireland  Italy  Luxembourg  Netherlands  Norway  Portugal  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  United Kingdom	31 May 1975	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Iranian Space Agency (Persian: سازمان فضایی ایران)	ISA	Iran	2004	—	Yes	No	No	No
Israeli Space Agency (Hebrew: סוכנות החלל הישראלית‎) (Arabic: وكالة الفضاء الإسرائيلية‎)	ISA סל"ה	Israel	April 1983	—	Yes	No	No	No
Indian Space Research Organization (Hindi: भारतीय अंतरिक्ष अनुसंधान संगठन)	ISRO इसरो	India	15 August 1969	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Japanese: 宇宙航空研究開発機構)	JAXA	Japan	1 October 2003	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	NASA	United States	1 October 1958	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
French: Centre National d’Études Spatiales (National Center of Space Research)	CNES	France	19 December 1961	—	Yes	No	No	No
Ukrainian: Національне космічне агентство України (Russian: Национальное космическое агентство Украины) (National Space Agency of Ukraine)	НКАУ НКАУ NSAU	Ukraine	2 March 1992	—	Yes	Yes	No	No
Russian: Федеральное космическое агентство (Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos))	РФКА RFSA	Russia	ca. 1992	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Russian: Советская космическая программа (Soviet space program)	СССР	Soviet Union	ca. 1955	ca. 1991	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

List of space agencies capable of conducting advanced space activities

Space agency		Country	Foun- ded	Termi- nated	Capabilities of the space agency				Ref(s)
Name	Acronym				Manned Space-flight capable	Space-walk capable	Space Rendez-vous and Docking capable	Opera-tes Space Station
China National Space Administration (Chinese: 中华人民共和国国家航天局)	CNSA	People's Republic of China	22 April 1993	—	Yes	Yes	No	No	[8]
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	NASA	United States	1 October 1958	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	[20]
Russian: Федеральное космическое агентство (Russian Federal Space Agency)	РФКА RFSA	Russia	ca. 1992	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Russian: Советская космическая программа (Soviet space program)	СССР	Soviet Union	ca. 1955	ca. 1991	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

List of space agencies capable of conducting paramount space activities

Space agency		Country	Founded	Terminated	Capabilities of the space agency				Ref(s)
Name	Acronym				Unmanned Moon Landing capable	Circumlunar Manned Spaceflight capable	Manned Moon Landing capable	Operates Moon Base
National Aeronautics and Space Administration	NASA	United States	1 October 1958	—	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	[20]
Russian: Советская космическая программа (Soviet space program)	СССР	Soviet Union	ca. 1955	ca. 1991	Yes	No	No	No

Expected future space agencies

Space agency		Country	Possible expected date of foundation	Current status	Ref(s)
Name	Acronym
Mexican Space Agency (Spanish: Agencia Espacial Mexicana)	AEXA or AEM	Mexico	2009	Pending confirmation vote in the Chamber of Deputies and an eventual proclamation by the President.	[32]
South African National Space Agency	SANSA	South Africa	2009	Bill signed by the President	[33]
Vietnam Space Commission	VNSC	Vietnam	—	—	[34]

Highest budget space agencies

The budgets listed are the official budgets from the different space agencies' homepages. Note that the Chinese budget of $500 million is from official figures by Luo Ge, vice administrator of the China National Space Administration. The budget is not normalized to the expenses of space research in each country/region, i.e. higher budget does not mean more activity or better performance in space exploration.

Country	Agency	Budget (USD)
United States	NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)	$18 100 million
esa  Austria  Belgium  Czech Republic  Denmark  Finland  France  Germany  Greece  Ireland  Italy  Luxembourg  Netherlands  Norway  Portugal  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland  United Kingdom	ESA (European Space Agency)	$5 030 million
France	CNES (French Space Agency)	$2 490 million
Russia	RKA (Russian Federal Space Agency)	$2 215 million
Japan	JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)	$2 100 million
Germany	DLR (German Aerospace Center)	$1 821 million
Italy	ASI (Italian Space Agency)	$1 550 million
India	ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization)	$1 300 million
China	CNSA (China National Space Administration)	$500 million
United Kingdom	BNSC (British National Space Centre)	$414 million
Iran	ISA (Iranian Space Agency)	$400 million
Canada	CSA (Canadian Space Agency)	$321 million
Brazil	AEB (Brazilian Space Agency)	$294 million
Ukraine	NSAU (National Space Agency of Ukraine)	$250 million
Belgium	BISA (Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy)	$230 million
Spain	INTA (Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial)	$175 million
Netherlands	SRON (Netherlands Institute for Space Research)	$160 million
South Korea	KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute)	$150 million
Switzerland	SSO (Swiss Space Office)	$110 million
Sweden	SNSB (Swedish National Space Board)	$100 million
Entire World	All space agencies (Total of listed budgets)	$44 400 million

World maps

External links

• Space Law Blog
• Space Agencies Worldwide by UN HDI
• Manitoba Museum Planetarium & Science Blog
• Celestial Bodies and Astronomy
• The State of the Canadian Aerospace Industry
• Aviation Museums in Atlantic Canada

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Published in July 2009.

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