The SOHO project is being carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a cooperative effort between the two agencies in the frame work of the Solar Terrestrial Science Program (STSP) comprising SOHO and CLUSTER. SOHO will be launched in July 1995. The SOHO spacecraft is being built in Europe, with instruments provided by European and American scientists. There are nine European Principal Investigators (Pl) and three American ones. Large engineering teams and more than 200 co-investigators support the Pls in the development of the instruments and in the preparation of their operations and data analysis. An industrial team lead by MATRA builds the spacecraft. NASA is responsible for the launch and mission operations. Large radio dishes around the world which form NASA's DSN will be used to track the spacecraft beyond the Earth's orbit. Mission control will be based at GSFC in Maryland.

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency was formed out of, and took over the right and obligations of, the two earlier European Space Organizations: the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) and the European Organization for the Development and Construction of Space Vehicle Launchers (ELDO). The Member States are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Finland is an Associate Member of the Agency. Canada is a Cooperating State. In the words of the Convention: The purpose of the Agency shall l be to provide for and to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes, cooperation among European States in space research and technology and their being used for scientific purposes and for operational. space applications systems.