Appointment Had Been Announced In December, 2014

ESA on Wednesday announced that the agency has a new Director General: Johann-Dietrich Wörner, who has taken up duty at ESA Headquarters in Paris, France.

“I am in the favorable position to nurture the seeds of Jean-Jacques Dordain’s work,” said Mr Wörner (pictured) during a recent media briefing at the Paris Air Show, expressing his thanks to the parting Director General.

Mr Wörner called for the continuation of ESA’s ongoing programmes, projects and missions in cooperation with Member States, as well as preparing for ESA’s future, among the many important tasks he has to fulfil.

Referring to this future as ‘Space 4.0’, Mr Wörner considers that ESA has already started to enter this new phase, in which space has become a day-to-day business and in which interaction with society, the commercialization of space, resulting new roles for industry and a fostered, cooperative relation with the European Commission all play important roles.

The ESA Council unanimously appointed Mr. Wörner on 18 December 2014 for a period of four years. Previously, he was Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), from March 2007 to June 2015. Originally from Kassel, Germany, Mr Wörner is married and has three children.

He succeeds Jean-Jacques Dordain, whose term of office ended on 30 June. Mr Dordain is ESA’s longest-serving Director General, who led the Agency from July 2003.

Wörner was congratulated by officials at Sierra Nevada Corp. “SNC is looking forward to continuing our longstanding relationship with ESA under Mr. Wörner's leadership,” said Mark N. Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNC’s Space Systems, said in a statement posted on the company website. “Mr. Wörner is a space visionary working to ensure future generations are able to build upon the past and current successes of ESA and its membership while embracing an exciting, dynamic, and transformative future filled with significant opportunities and extraordinary results. The international space community will greatly benefit from his leadership.”

(Image provided by ESA)

FMI: www.esa.int