The VLT FLAMES Tarantula Survey

We introduce the VLT FLAMES Tarantula Survey, an ESO Large Programme from which we have obtained optical spectroscopy of over 800 massive stars in the spectacular 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. A key feature is the use of multi-epoch observations to provide strong constraints on the binary fraction. This is the largest high quality survey of extragalactic massive stars ever assembled, and is already providing exciting new insights into their evolution, multiplicity and formation