  I provide a summary of the ESA space astrometry mission Gaia regarding its
main objectives and current status following the 2nd data release (Gaia DR2) in
April 2018. The Gaia achievements in astrometry are assessed with a historical
perspective by comparing the DR2 content to sky surveys or parallax searches
over the last two centuries. One shows that Gaia sounds more like a big leap
into a new world than an incremental progress in this field.
