Columbus Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
(from right to left) Sigmar Wittig, Chairman of the Board of DLR , Otto Wiesheu, Bavarian Minister of Economy, Transport and Technology and Jörg Feustel-Büechl, ESA director of Human Spaceflight connect for the first time to the ISS Control Centres in Moscow and Houston, to the Columbus Laboratory at Bremen and the ESA test facilities at Noordwijk via the newly built communication infrastructure of the Columbus Control Centre.
On 19 October 2004 ESA and DLR officially inaugurated the Columbus Control Centre. The Centre has been set up under ESA contract in Oberpfaffenhofen at the premises of DLR. The Columbus Control Centre is now ready to take up operations of the European elements of the International Space Station (ISS).