Status of GEO 600

The GEO 600 laser interferometer with 600 m armlength is currently being commissioned as a part of a worldwide network of gravitational wave detectors. Due to the use of advanced technologies such as signal recycling and multiple pendulum suspensions with a monolithic last stage the anticipated sensitivity of GEO 600 is close to the initial sensitivity of km baseline detectors. This paper describes the status of the detector as of November 2003 with special emphasis on its performance during the first serious data-taking periods and on the experimental challenges encountered during the commissioning of the dual-recycled detector.