A star-lit tunnel welcomed hundreds of participants as they entered the venue of this special celebration. Stars were humanity’s first navigation tools, guiding explorers across land and sea. Today, we navigate with sophisticated global satellite systems like Galileo and EGNOS.

ESA, as designer of the European Union’s satellite navigation systems since their inception, hosted this celebration to pay tribute to the journey and people behind it. Guests included representatives from the European Commission (EC), the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), Eurocontrol, ESA Member States, the Security Accreditation Board (SAB), institutions, industrial partners, former and current ESA Navigation directors and colleagues.

A photo exhibition invited visitors to reminisce about the beginnings of EGNOS and Galileo, while a captivating show mixing narration, theatre and video, brought to life incredible milestones, rekindled old friendships and introduced new concepts that will shape the future of satellite navigation.

The show was formally opened by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Director of Navigation Javier Benedicto, and guided by science communicator Anna Gimbrere. Key contributions were made by special guests from ESA's institutional partners EC, EUSPA and the SAB. In addition, Filippo Camerota, Director of the Museo Galileo, announced the establishment of a new partnership with ESA.

Above all, the event aimed to acknowledge everyone who has contributed to Europe's success in satellite navigation. So to top off the ceremony, Benedicto, supported by former directors Giuseppe Viriglio, René Oosterlinck and Paul Verhoef, presented awards to all those who have shaped this remarkable journey: institutional partners European Commission, EUSPA, Security Accreditation Board and Eurocontrol, industrial partners for EGNOS, Galileo and NAVISP, EGNOS operations and service providers, advisory bodies to ESA Navigation and the ESA Navigation Programme Board delegations of the ESA Member States.