European Launcher Development Organisation

The European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) is a former European space research organization. It was first developed in order to establish a satellite launch vehicle for Europe and comprised of Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Australia was an associate member of the organization. The three-stage rocket developed was named Europa, after the mythical Greek god. Overall, there were 10 launches that occurred under ELDO's funding. Initially, the launch site was in Woomera, Australia, but was later moved to the French site Kourou, in French Guiana. In 1974, after an unsuccessful satellite launch, the program was merged with the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) to form the European Space Agency (ESA).