Joining the rest of humanity in the pursuit of an extraterrestrial existence, the African Space Agency (AfSA) was launched on Sunday, April 20 at a conference in Cairo, Egypt. The inauguration coincided with the New Space Africa Conference, and included a majority of African countries, along with representatives from the EU Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The development of the AfSA had the immediate and continuing support of the European Space Agency, the United Arab Emirates, and Roscosmos.
The new organization has been in the works since 2016 as part of the Agenda 2063 African Union centennial program—which has the goal of “The Africa We Want”—and will be headquartered in New Cairo, the Egyptian city now under construction along the Nile River. According to their website, the AfSA has 55 members—that is, every single nation on the continent is actively involved in the pursuit of extraterrestrial development. The AfSA does not intend (at this time) to build rockets, only to coordinate research and activity. That will likely include the development of numerous launch facilities across the continent, taking advantage of its strategic location straddling the Equator.
