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Government Space Agencies (GSA)

As of 2018, 72 different government space agencies are in existence; 14 of those have launch capability. Six government space agencies—the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA or Roscosmos)—have full launch capabilities; these include the ability to launch and recover multiple satellites, deploy cryogenic rocket engines and operate space probes. The name given is the English version, with the native language version below. The acronym given is the most common acronym: this can either be the acronym of the English version (e.g. JAXA), or the acronym in the native language. Where there are multiple acronyms in common use, the English one is given first. The date of the founding of the space agency is the date of first operations where applicable. If the space agency is no longer running, then the date when it was terminated (i.e. the last day of operations) is given. A link to the Agency's primary website is also given.

Space exploration is the discovery and exploration of celestial structures in outer space by developing and growing space technology. While the study of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, the physical exploration of space is conducted both by unmanned robotic space probes and human spaceflight. While the observation of objects in space, known as astronomy, predates reliable recorded history, it was the development of large and relatively efficient rockets during the mid-twentieth century that allowed physical space exploration to become a reality. Common rationales for exploring space include advancing scientific research, national prestige, uniting different nations, ensuring the future survival of humanity, and developing military and strategic advantages against other countries

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This is a list of government agencies engaged in activities related to outer space and space exploration. As of 2018, 72 different government space agencies are in existence; 14 of those have launch capability.
Six government space agencies
1. Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA or Roscosmos) | Федеральное космическое агентство России (РФСА или Роскосмос)
2. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
3. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) |宇宙航空研究開発機構
4. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) | இந்திய விண்வெளி ஆராய்ச்சி அமைப்பு (இஸ்ரோ) | भारतीय अंतरिक्ष अनुसंधान संगठन (ISRO)
5. China National Space Administration (CNSA) | 中国国家航天局（CNSA）
6. European Space Agency (ESA) | Agence spatiale européenne (ESA) |Europäische Weltraumorganisation (ESA)
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and all of them have a launch capabilities; these include the ability to launch and recover multiple satellites, deploy cryogenic rocket engines and operate space probes. The name given is the English version, with the native language version below. The acronym given is the most common acronym: this can either be the acronym of the English version (e.g. JAXA), or the acronym in the native language. Where there are multiple acronyms in common use, the English one is given first. The date of the founding of the space agency is the date of first operations where applicable. If the space agency is no longer running, then the date when it was terminated (i.e. the last day of operations) is given. A link to the Agency's primary website is also given.

List of Government Space Agencies

The capabilities of the space agencies are color-coded as follows

Human Lunar Exploration + Operates Space Station + Human Spaceflight + Operates Extraterrestrial Probes + Launch Capability + Operates Satellites

Station + Human Spaceflight + Operates Extraterrestrial Probes + Launch Capability + Operates Satellites

Human spaceflight + Operates Extraterrestrial Probes + Launch Capability + Operates Satellites

Operates Extraterrestrial Probes + Launch Capability + Operates Satellites

Launch Capability + Operates Satellites

Operates Satellites

None Of The Above

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List of Space Agencies with Human Spaceflight Capability

List of Space Agencies with Lunar Landing Capability

NAME	ACRONYM	COUNTRY	FOUNDED	CREWED SPACEFLIGHT	CONTROL LUNAR SURFACE	UNCREWED MOONLANDING	UNCREWED LUNAR ROVER OPERATION	SAMPLE RETURN MISSION	CREWED SAMPLE RETURN MISSION
Indian Space Research Organisation \|Tamil:இந்திய விண்வெளி ஆராய்ச்சி அமைப்பு (இஸ்ரோ) \| (Hindi: भारतीय अंतरिक्ष अनुसंधान संगठन)	ISRO (इसरो)	India	15 August 1969	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)	NASA	United States	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Russian: Советская космическая программа (Soviet space program)	СССР	Soviet Union/Russia	Soviet union-1955-1991 Russia-1992*	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
China National Space Administration (Chinese: 中华人民共和国国家航天局)	CNSA	China	22 April 1993	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No

Expected and proposed future space agencies Salyut 1

NAME	ACRONYM	COUNTRY	FOUNDED	CURRENT STATUS
Sri Lanka Aeronautics and Space Agency	SLASA	Sri Lanka		Immediate goal is to construct and launch two satellites. Sri Lankan Telecommunications Regulatory Commission has signed an agreement with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd to get relevant help and resources from them.
African Space Agency	AfriSpace	African Union		Proposed in 2015. AU plans to launch the agency by 2023 with a new proposed headquarter in New Cairo, Egypt. Funded by Egypt.
Pan-Arab Space Agency	PASA	Arab League	Stalled. Proposed in 2009, at progress stage.
South American Space Agency	SASA	South America		Proposed in 2011, at progress stage

Budgets

The annual budgets listed are the official budgets for national space agencies available in public domain. The budgets are not normalized to the expenses of space research in different countries, i.e. higher budget does not necessarily mean more activity or better performance in space exploration. Note also that budget could be used for different projects: e.g. GPS is maintained from the US defence budget, whereas ESA's money is used for developing the European Galileo positioning system. The data for authoritarian countries are unreliable. For European contributors to ESA, the national budgets shown include also their contributions to ESA.

COUNTRY	AGENCY	BUDGET (in Milions of USD$)	FISCAL YEAR
United States	National Aeronautics and Space Administration	21,500	2019
China	China National Space Administration	8,400	2017
European Union	European Space Agency	6,406	2019
Germany	German Aerospace Center	4,274	2017
Russia	Russian Federal Space Agency	3,272	2015
France	French Space Agency	2,700	2017
Italy	Italian Space Agency	1,800	2016
Japan	Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency	1,699	2017
India	Indian Space Research Organisation	1,800	2019-20
South Korea	Korea Aerospace Research Institute	583	2016
United Kingdom	UK Space Agency	500	2017
Algeria	Algerian Space Agency	360	2015
Canada	Canadian Space Agency	246	2018
Belgium	Interfederal Space Agency of Belgium	224	2018
Spain	Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial	211	2018
Switzerland	Swiss Space Office	177	2019
Iran	Iranian Space Agency and Iranian Space Research Center	139	2014-15
Netherlands	Netherlands Space Office	110
Sweden	Swedish National Space Agency	100	2011
Norway	Norwegian Space Agency	97	2014
Ukraine	State Space Agency of Ukraine	80
Austria	Austrian Space Agency	75	2018
Israel	Israel Space Agency	48
Brazil	Brazilian Space Agency	47	2018
Argentina	Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales	45	2019
Pakistan	Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission	45	2018-19
Nigeria	National Space Research and Development Agency	32.3	2019
South Africa	South African National Space Agency	11.8	2014-15
Mexico	Mexican Space Agency	8.34
Australia	Australian Space Agency	6.9	2019