Oberpfaffenhofen

Oberpfaffenhofen
Ortsteil of Weßling
Coat of arms
Oberpfaffenhofen
Location of Oberpfaffenhofen within Starnberg district
Coordinates: 48°4′41″N 11°15′9″E / 48.07806°N 11.25250°E / 48.07806; 11.25250Coordinates: 48°4′41″N 11°15′9″E / 48.07806°N 11.25250°E / 48.07806; 11.25250
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Admin. region	Oberbayern
District	Starnberg
Municipality	Weßling
Population (1987)
• Total	1,323
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Vehicle registration	STA
Website	www.gemeinde-wessling.de

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.

The village is home to a major site of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR) and became hence known to a wide audience when, in 1983 the first West-German astronaut, the physicist Ulf Merbold flew to space on board a Space Shuttle in the context of the Spacelab missions. These missions were partly supervised by the (GSOC) located at Oberpfaffenhofen.

The research centre in Oberpfaffenhofen houses the DLR, including the Columbus Control Center which DLR operates for the European Space Agency and Airbus Defence and Space, and also some Fraunhofer Institutes and other scientific institutes. From 2014 OHB group moved the division which formerly was Kayser-Threde from Munich to Oberpfaffenhofen.

Also situated in Oberpfaffenhofen is the industrial area of (the now insolvent) Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH (later part of Fairchild Dornier). The aircraft manufacturer shared the airfield with the DLR.

During the occupation of Germany the airport was designated Oberpfaffenhofen Air Force Depot which also served as the maintenance depot for the aircraft that were utilized during the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49.