Sara Pastor

European Space Agency (ESA) • Lunar Projects Group Leader

Born in Italy, Sara Pastor studied aerospace engineering at Politecnico di Torino, graduating in 1998. After a brief period in the automotive sector, she joined Alenia Space in Turin, now Thales Alenia Space, before moving to ESA at ESTEC in the Netherlands in 2003.

Initially assigned to mission preparation for ESA’s Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station, she later moved into ISS module development, working on the systems and operations aspects of Node 2, Node 3 and Cupola.

Following the launch of Node 3 and Cupola, she returned to Columbus sustaining engineering in 2010, focusing on the design and development of system enhancements. She initially served as System Engineer and became Team Leader in 2015.

In 2018, Sara began work on the conceptual phase of what was the Lunar Gateway. She served as study manager for the Gateway International Habitation Module and subsequently as ESA Project Manager for Gateway I-HAB, the habitation module, and Gateway ERM, the European refuelling and crew windows module. Development of these modules is contracted to Thales Alenia Space in Italy and France, respectively.

She also served as ESA Gateway Programme Manager, collaborating with NASA, JAXA, the Canadian Space Agency and space-industry partners on the definition and construction of the Lunar Gateway, a key element of the Artemis programme, and on its scientific utilisation.

She has served as ESA Lunar Projects Group Leader since January 2025, leading ESA’s programme for lunar destinations and continuing to work closely with NASA, JAXA, the Canadian Space Agency and space-industry partners on the Lunar Gateway and the wider Artemis programme.

Events

77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026)

5 - 9 October 2026

Antalya, Türkiye

Participation: