A hearty welcome to the European space party for the Czech Republic please.

Last week the republic became the 18th member state of the European Space Agency and its flag was flown alongside other members’ flags at ESA sites across the continent.

“Full membership of ESA is of tremendous importance for Czech science,” says Czech Education Minister Ondrej Liska (press release). “This is an opportunity for Czech scientific, research and industrial organisations to contribute to international cooperation in the exploration of space, the Earth, satellite telecommunication and navigation and space technologies.”

Image: the Czech flag flies at the ESA Centre for Earth Observation in Italy / ESA