Today, 20 January, Romania celebrates 10 years since the signature of the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the European Space Agency on Romania's accession to the ESA Convention. The ceremony took place in 2011 and back then it brought together Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General and Marius-Ioan Piso, President of the Romanian Space Agency, along with Teodor Baconschi, Romania's Foreign Minister, the cosmonaut Dumitru Dorin Prunariu, and other personalities.

The event took place following the decision of ESA's Council on 16 December 2010, when Romania was unanimously accepted as the 19th full member of ESA.

By obtaining the status of full ESA Member State, Romania proved to have competitive scientific and technical capacities at an European level, thus obtaining the same rights as the other ESA Member States and the access to opportunities for continuous technological, scientific and human resources development.

Images credit: ROSA