“Starting today, March 1, 2021, ESA has a new CEO, Dr. Josef Aschbacher, who took over from the ESA headquarters in Paris,” the agency said.

Ashbakher was appointed back in December 2020 for a period of four years.

The new CEO is known for being the head of the Copernicus satellite monitoring program in 2006.

In 2014, Ashbacher was appointed head of the planning and coordination program of the European Institute for Space Research in Italy.

In November 2020, the European Space Agency announced that it is considering the possibility of starting to independently conduct manned space flights using new rockets.