|headquarters = Paris, France|spaceport = Guiana Space Centre|image = ESA LOGO.svg|size = 240px|acronym = ESA|established = 1974|administrator = Jean-Jacques Dordain|budget = ?2.9 ($4.260) bn (2007)|URL = [LINK: http://www.esa.int/] www.esa.int}}The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1974, is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 17 member states. Its headquarters are in Paris. ESA has a staff (excluding sub-contractors and national space agencies) of about 1,900 with an annual budget of about ?2.9 billion in 2007. ESA's spaceport is the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, a site made available by France, close to the equator from which commercially important orbits are easier to access. During the 1990s ESA gained the position of market leader in commercial space launches and in recent years ESA has est