ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst's ISS training continues

ESA’s Columbus Control Centre (Col-CC) supports the European Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station. 

Col-CC is situated at the DLR German Aerospace Center facility in Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, Germany. 

The Control Centre is the direct link to Columbus in space. 

Its main functions are to command and control the Columbus laboratory systems, to coordinate operations of the European payloads on the Station and to operate the European ground communications network. 

Credit: DLR/T. Ernsting

An atmosphere of rising excitement can be sensed in the control centre: everything is ready for ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst's voyage to the International Space Station blasting off next Wednesday.

The Columbus Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, Germany has followed many launches since its inauguration 10 years ago – but no mission is routine.

The centres in Baikonur, Kazakhstan and Korolev, Russia are in the front line but ESA's site – callsign "Munich" – is responsible for the Columbus module and all European experiments.

Pedro Duque

"We cooperate with our international partners to make sure that the Space Station is ready to receive the Soyuz spacecraft and its crew," says ESA astronaut Pedro Duque, now head of the Flight Operations Office.

If the Station needs to rotate to allow the Soyuz to dock, for example, some European hardware might need to be switched off or risk interfering with the docking.

"Our teams run simulations a few times a year, including emergency scenarios," explains Pedro.

Operators also need to be ready to reconfigure Europe's Columbus laboratory if the planned six-hour flight is switched to a two-day approach, as happened to the previous Soyuz flight following a minor malfunction.

Pedro's experience as an astronaut comes in handy: "I can relate to the crew, and help flight controllers better understand the astronauts' perspective.

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst during training on the plant gravity sensing experiment, at JAXA’s Tsukuba Space Center in Japan on 4 March 2014. 

As part of the International Space Station, the Japanese Experiment Module, called Kibo, was developed and tested at TKSC. 

At Tsukuba the astronaut training covers experiments that take place in Kibo. 

Alexander Gerst is flight engineer for Expedition 40/41, which will be launched to the International Space Station in May 2014 on a long-duration mission to run science experiments and maintain humankind’s space base. 

Credit: ESA–S. Corvaja, 2014