Gaia is an ESA cornerstone mission set to revolutionise our understanding of the Milky Way. Gaia is scheduled for launch in 2013, and is designed to map over one billion stars with three instruments to collect astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic data on stars in the Milky Way and in galaxies belonging to the Local Group, distant galaxies, quasars and solar system objects. Gaia builds on the expertise established in Europe through the successful ESA Hipparcos mission. This contribution provides updated information on the Gaia mission and notes the science performance capability of the mission. The GREAT (Gaia Research for European Astronomy Training) research network, which is taking a role in promoting scientific networking of the community building awareness and readiness in advance of the Gaia launch, is discussed.