New European Space Agency director takes helm

The European Space Agency (ESA) has a new director general , with Johann-Dietrich Wörner taking the wheel at the Paris-based organisation for an initial period of four years, after vacating his chairmanship of the German Aerospace Centre.

He succeeds Frenchman Jean-Jacques Dordain, who had been in post since 2003 – the agency’s longest-serving head.

“I am in the favourable position to nurture the seeds of Jean-Jacques Dordain’s work,” Wörner said.

During Dordain’s time as director general, ESA co-managed the development of Europe’s Galileo navigation satellite programme, launched space probes to the moon, Venus and, most famously, to a comet during the Rosetta mission last November.

Wörner has written a blog to mark his first day in office in which he quotes the Starwars character Yoda telling Luke Skywalker, “Do….or do not. There is no try.”