Station, this is Munich

Columbus Control Centre, often shortened to Col-CC, is located near Munich in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, on the premises of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). In this big room filled with screens, engineers and flight directors monitor everything that goes on in the Columbus Module.

“Columbus Control Centre is one of five control centres worldwide that are responsible for operating the International Space Station. There are two in the US, one in Japan, one in Russia and Col-CC in Munich.” says Michael Demel.

Leading the team

Michael Demel is a flight director. He was the Increment lead for the first part of Increment 70, which started in September 2023 and Alexander Stoelzle took over from mid-January 2024 for the rest of increment 70. An increment is the time between crew changes on the International Space Station and typically lasts around six months; they usually overlap with Expeditions on the Space Station.

“The flight director on console is the head of the flight control team, where we are responsible for the safe execution for the ESA's science module on the International Space Station: the Columbus module. We work 24/7 with several shifts throughout the day,” says Michael about his role.

He worked his way from a trainee at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) to Operations Engineer at European Communicator and Medical Operations (EUROCOM) and now flight director.

When asked what a regular day for an increment lead looks like, Michael talks about planning, managing and more: “ I choreograph and coordinate the operations around the Columbus module, where I look beyond the day and the week in order to prepare for what we need to do. I coordinate the various teams here at COL-CC and make sure we have a plan for both the crew onboard the Space Station but also the teams down here on Earth.”

Part of his job also entails dealing with anomalies in the Columbus module. When an error occurs, the flight director would handle the anomaly together with the team. To give an example, Michael talked about removing and replacing a piece of hardware on the Columbus module: “When the hardware was connected to the power system in Columbus, it caused the outlet to trip. Then we got a message and got to work figuring out what caused it. That also involves crew inspecting the equipment, if anything smells or if there is smoke. Then we assess with the data we receive from sensors and follow the procedures to solve the anomaly”.

The European control centre has all the core infrastructure and teams to ensure the safe running of the Columbus Module.

A team effort

It is not a one-man job to run the Columbus module that houses both astronauts and experiments. It takes a big team of dedicated engineers to ensure the crew on board is safe and the European laboratory keeps running all hours of the day. The operations in Col-CC are divided into teams: STRATOS, COL FLIGHT, COMET, COSMO, and others, for example Ground Control Team (GTC) that deals with all infrastructure on ground and connections at Col-CC.

STRATOS takes care of thermal, power and life support systems in the Columbus module, ensuring that there is power distributed to all the experiments and oversees all the sensors in Columbus. Their focus is monitoring all the sensors on board and raising any issues that might appear. 

COL FLIGHT is the flight director who is responsible for the Columbus Flight Control Team and the leader of European operations on the International Space Station.

The COMET team handles the payload planning and the real time planning for the Columbus Module, making sure that astronaut schedules are up to date and taking care of any changes. The team knows how long each task takes including unpacking, setting up, executing the experiment and any other constraints.

COSMO, or Columbus Stowage and Maintenance Officer, oversees equipment and how it is organized in the Columbus module. If the crew on the Space Station needs to find a package, COSMO can tell them where it is.

Besides the teams at Col-CC, there are also User Support Operation Centres, or USOCS, spread around Europe. Their job is to be the connecting team between the scientists on the ground and their experiments on the International Space Station.

Last but not least, is EUROCOM, the crew support team that assists the crew onboard the Space Station when it comes to executing experiments and supporting them throughout the day with operations. EUROCOM is located at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.

International cooperation

COL-CC is not the only control centre taking part in the operations of the International Space Station. EUROCOM also plays a significant role, focusing on crew support and health. You might also recognise NASA’s control centre by the callsign “Houston”, which is located at Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, USA. In addition to Europe and the US, there is also a mission control centre in Moscow for the Russian segment of the Space Station, as well as from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for their Kibo module.

International cooperation is a key point for the daily work at Col-CC: “The really great thing with this work is the international collaboration. It is not just in Europe; it is across land and oceans where we work together.” Says Michael Demel and continues on why international partners are not the only stakeholders in operations on the International Space Station with commercial partners moving in as well: “An example is the Bartolomeo platform from Airbus, which is on the outside of the Columbus module, where they are with us on the console when there are operations on their payloads. Similarly, there is ICE Cubes from Space Application Service that sits inside the Columbus module”.

The stories along the way

Michael recalls an interesting story from ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen's Huginn mission: “On his birthday, we had a two-way video call and the team here at Col-CC had dressed up with party hats, wishing him a Happy Birthday. The crew on the Space Station was together and Andreas was going to blow out a digital candle on a small computer called the Astro Pi. However, when he tried blowing it out, it kept re-lighting. The crew got a great laughter out of it”.

Past and future of space exploration

Col-CC was inaugurated in 2004 and supported its first astronaut mission of Roberto Vittori in 2005. The first hardware milestone was the launch of the Columbus module in 2008 when it was transported on the Space Shuttle Mission 122.

The European Control Centre has since coordinated all activities with the Columbus Module as well as the Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) which launched experiments, food, water, propellants and oxygen to the Space Station.

Looking ahead, the Columbus Control Centre will continue to support ESA’s contribution to the International Space Station for experiments and astronauts on board. As ESA and its international partners move beyond Low Earth Orbit with the Gateway, Col-CC sets the scene for how to support experiments and crewed missions in space.