Free timed-entry tickets to Explore JPL, the two-day open house at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will be released at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29.
Tickets are expected to be fully reserved within 10 to 15 minutes, NASA estimates, based on the event’s popularity in previous years.
The open house marks the laboratory’s 90th anniversary and is the first Explore JPL since 2023.
Visitors can enter the Space Flight Operations Facility, a National Historic Landmark, and the Spacecraft Assembly Facility and machine shop where spacecraft components are built, according to a NASA release issued in June.
The event is organized around four areas: Missions That Changed the World, Moon to Mars, In Flight and Makerspace. Also on view are autonomous lunar rovers, search-and-rescue robots, the Microdevices Laboratory and full-scale models of the Perseverance Mars rover, Voyager and Galileo.
Visitors may not bring bags, backpacks, coolers, weapons, alcohol, pets other than certified service animals, drones or bicycles, among other items NASA has barred.
In 2023, all 36,000 tickets to the open house were reserved within minutes of release, according to LAist.
Need to know: Explore JPL, the 90th-anniversary open house at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When: Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 10 and 11. Time: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. PDT each day; entry at the time printed on the ticket. Cost: Free, but timed-entry tickets are required, released at 9 a.m. PDT Saturday, Aug. 29, five per reservation, with all attendee names entered at registration. Children ages 2 and under need no ticket; anyone 18 or older must show government-issued identification. Where: 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena. Parking: Free on site; vehicles are subject to inspection. For more, call (818) 354-4321 or reserve at jpl.nasa.gov/explore-jpl.
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