The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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ESA's Columbus Control Centre (COL-CC) is located at the German Space Operations Centre of the German Space Agency (DLR), in Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich in Germany. This centre is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
COL-CC controls and operates the Columbus laboratory and is in close contact with the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, the Mission Control Centre in Houston (MCC-H), USA, which has overall responsibility for the ISS, together with the Mission Control Centre in Moscow (MCC-M). In addition, Col-CC coordinates operations with the ISS Payload Operations and Integration Centre at the Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama, USA, which is responsible for operating European experiments (payloads).
All the ground services for Colombus are provided by Col-CC. This includes communication services (voice, video and data) to the sites where ISS users are located, to the ATV-Control Centre, to the European Astronaut Centre (EAC), to industrial support sites and to the ESA management site at ESTEC.