ESA Open Day at ESTEC 2024: Registration open

To attend the ESA Open Day at ESTEC for all visitors, please sign up for your tickets here.

One person can register for up to four entrance tickets per booking.

Because we are obliged to limit the total number of visitors, to ensure a great experience for all who do attend, we urge you to book early to avoid disappointment.

This will be the 13th annual ESA Open Day event in the Netherlands. The venue will be ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre, or ESA ESTEC – the technical heart of ESA. It is the largest space establishment in Europe, offering visitors the chance to meet space engineers and astronauts and see actual space hardware.

The theme for this year is Generation Space: Shaping the Future Together, and it will explore how ESA will achieve its vision for the future. As in previous years, the goal of the event is to give people first-hand experience of the cutting edge of space science with the help of scientists, engineers, astronauts and space professionals. It’s your chance to find out about all aspects of ESA, including posing questions to the experts at our Space Citizens Forum.

ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, is ESA’s technical centre, and the single largest agency establishment. In operation for well over half a century, this is where new ESA missions are born and novel technologies are investigated. Completed space missions are also evaluated here ahead of flight, in Europe’s largest satellite testing facility.

Among many luminaries present will be ESA astronaut André Kuipers, NASA astronauts Bill McArthur, Jerry Ross and Anna Fisher, and Canadian astronaut Julie Payette, just to name few. Other guests will also include Steven Strait, aka Captain James Holden – lead TV actor from hit sci-fi show The Expanse.

There is no dress code, but as in previous years we welcome attendees to come dressed as your favourite space explorer and we’ll be picking our favourites for a gallery to be published after the event.
 
ESTEC’s year-round visitor centre Space Expo will also be participating in the Open Day, along with a full schedule of events and talks from Space Rocks, celebrating the art and culture of science and space.

Each year thousands of visitors attend the ESA Open Days in the Netherlands. Sunday’s general Open Day is preceded by an Open Day for people with a disability on Saturday, the day before, allowing them to explore the sprawling site at their own pace – because space is for everyone.

We will be publishing the full programme of attractions, events and lectures later this month. To attend, registration is obligatory, please register here.

For updates and more details of the Open Days, keep an eye on this webpage and social media.