As of: February 13, 2024, 9:00 a.m
By: Hanna von Prittwitz
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The number of visitors has increased from year to year, but because the budget is tight, there will be no more open days on the grounds of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the time being.
© Schiebel
The open day at the German Aerospace Center always attracted crowds; the last time in 2019, up to 20,000 visitors came.
However, due to budget constraints, this event will no longer take place in the near future.
Oberpfaffenhofen – In the past, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen hosted an open day every two years.
The event usually took place in September and attracted thousands.
There were 17,000 visitors in 2016, and an estimated 20,000 two years later. “This meant that our capacity limit was reached,” says Bernadette Jung from the DLR press office in Oberpfaffenhofen.
The pandemic brought the event to an end and there will probably not be a new edition.
“We're sorry, but the budget is very tight overall, I don't think there will be another open day in the near future,” says Jung when asked by Starnberger Merkur.
She regrets this very much, “because the demand for tours and the work at the DLR site is great.”
The DLR could have cushioned this very well through the open day.
DLR now wants to report on work differently
At the 2019 open day, the focus was on the moon landing, which was the 50th anniversary.
“Fortunately, the weather was good, so the crowd could spread out well outside,” remembers Jung.
The site would probably not be able to accommodate more than 20,000 people, and with around 2,000 employees it is the DLR site with the largest number of employees in the country.
Because of the extensive offering and research projects in the areas of space travel and mechatronics, the location is particularly popular and offers a lot of exciting things.
That's precisely why the DLR is, despite everything, very interested in reporting on its work.
“We have to see what paths we can find.”
There is a relatively simple concept for guided tours and visits to the DLR site in Cologne.
At the Oberpfaffenhofen location, security precautions are high and the tours are tailor-made.
“The scientists give lectures, it is very time-consuming overall.” On the other hand, the DLR is a public service association and is therefore directly affected by the budget discussions in the Bundestag.
“Of course we were waiting for that with excitement.” As an association, the DLR is not allowed to generate any income, which is why no entry fee is allowed for guided tours.
Conversely, this means: tour operators or similar companies are not allowed to offer visits to the DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen.
There are still ways to find out more about DLR.
Tours take place in the space control center every Thursday.
The offer can be found on the website col-cc.de - but they are fully booked until June.
For school classes there is the DLR School Lab, which offers full or half-day programs.
The experiments are supervised by students.
Register at dlr.de/schoollab.
The DLR will probably continue to take part in Girls Day and Mouse Day, the latter being organized by the editorial team of “Sendung mit der Maus” Bernadette Jung: “We are dealing with the topic of public relations.”
By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Starnberg newsletter.
You can find even more current news from the Starnberg district at Merkur.de/Starnberg.