The Columbus Control Centre is the Mission Control Center

Mission Control Center

A mission control center is an entity that manages aerospace vehicle flights, usually from the point of lift-off until the landing or the end of the mission. A staff of flight controllers and other support personnel monitor all aspects of the mission using telemetry, and send commands to the...

 which is used to control the European Columbus

Columbus (ISS module)

Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the International Space Station and is the largest single contribution to the ISS made by the European Space Agency ....

 research laboratory, which is part of the International Space Station

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

 (ISS). The control centre is located at the German Aerospace Center

German Aerospace Center

The German Aerospace Center is the national centre for aerospace, energy and transportation research of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has multiple locations throughout Germany. Its headquarters are located in Cologne. It is engaged in a wide range of research and development projects in...

 (DLR) facility in Oberpfaffenhofen

Oberpfaffenhofen

Oberpfaffenhofen is a village which is part of the municipality of Weßling in the district of Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany. It is 20 kilometers from the city center of Munich....

 near Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The centre is operated by the DLR, under contract from the European Space Agency

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

 (ESA) and EADS Astrium

EADS Astrium

Astrium Satellites is one of the three business units of Astrium, a subsidiary of EADS. It is a European space manufacturer involved in the manufacture of spacecraft used for science, Earth observation and telecommunication, as well as the equipment and subsystems used therein and related ground...

.

The Columbus Control Centre entered full time operation during the STS-122 Shuttle Mission

STS-122

STS-122 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station , flown by the Space Shuttle Atlantis. STS-122 marked the 24th shuttle mission to the ISS, and the 121st space shuttle flight since STS-1....

, which delivered the Columbus

Columbus (ISS module)

Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the International Space Station and is the largest single contribution to the ISS made by the European Space Agency ....

 module to the ISS. The module was attached to the ISS on 11 February 2008.

Identification and call sign

The Columbus Control Centre is known by the acronym COL-CC. The crew on board the International Space Station

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

 use the call sign 'Munich' when calling down to COL-CC.

Flight Control Room positions

The Col-CC Flight Control Room is permanently staffed by four full times positions, COL FLIGHT, COL OC, COL SYSTEMS and COL DMS. These are supported by EUROCOM and COSMO during crew wake times, Monday to Friday. COL FLIGHT is responsible for real time Columbus Operations and reports to ISS FLIGHT at MCC-H. COL OC (Operations Coordinator) coordinates Payload operations and real time planning. COL SYSTEMS controls the onboard power, thermal and environmental subsystems, whilst COL DMS (Data Management System) controls the onboard data and video subsystems. EUROCOM is the interface to the International Space Station

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

 crew, communicating over the space to ground loops. COSMO (COlumbus Stowage and Maintenance Officer) is responsible for inventory management, on-orbit maintenance and Plug in Plan.

Support to USOCs and ATV missions

The Columbus Control Centre is also responsible for providing the Ground Segment Services for all European manned space flight activities. This includes connecting the User Support Operations Centres (USOCs) with the Columbus Control Centre, and routing data for the Automated Transfer Vehicle

Automated Transfer Vehicle

The Automated Transfer Vehicle or ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency . ATVs are designed to supply the International Space Station with propellant, water, air, payload and experiments...

s (ATVs) to the ATV Control Centre located in Toulouse. ESA will use the ATVs to bring supplies and future science experiments to the ISS. The Columbus Control Centre, "will supervise the ISS-based tasks of the unmanned European space transporter ATV."