In October 2001, French astronaut Claudie Haigneré became the first European woman to board the International Space Station. She spent eight days on board as part of the Andromeda mission, which was a joint venture between the French Space Agency (CNES) and Russia.

The French rocket system Arianne 5 was used to successfully launch the Rosetta probe in March 2004. Rosetta is now on its way deep into the inner solar system to gather information on comets.

In November 2004, France signed an agreement with India to co-operate in launching an advanced weather satellite in four years' time. The information the satellite will gather should hopefully offer a greater understanding of tropical weather systems and make it possible to predict cyclones and monsoons more accurately.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first man-made satellite, the French company Arianespace will launch a cluster of 50 nanosatellites for the International Astronautical Federation in 2007.