{"id":503334,"date":"2026-06-16T23:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T23:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/503334\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T23:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T23:39:08","slug":"jpls-open-house-is-finally-coming-back-again-heres-how-to-get-free-tickets-to-the-nasa-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/503334\/","title":{"rendered":"JPL\u2019s open house is finally coming back again. Here\u2019s how to get free tickets to the NASA tradition."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s about as in-demand as World Cup<\/a> or Olympics tickets<\/a>\u00a0but with only a single zero in its price tag: The free open house at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory<\/a> is returning this fall.<\/p>\n

Back for the first time since 2023, the overwhelmingly popular Pasadena-area tradition will once again welcome space-curious Angelenos on October 10 and 11 to step inside mission control and a host of fabrication facilities at the\u00a0Caltech-managed command center for satellites and Mars rover missions.<\/p>\n

Tucked into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the\u00a0robotic research lab\u00a0drew increasingly\u00a0Disneyland<\/a>-level crowds to its two-day open house over the years, which prompted a shift<\/a> to (free) timed ticket admission about a decade ago. That\u2019ll be the case once again for 2026, when tickets for \u201cExplore JPL\u201d<\/a> become available on Saturday, August 29 at 9am. You\u2019ll be limited to five tickets and you must select a specific time slot and name each attendee when you reserve them (IDs will be checked at the door). Expect slots to be fully booked within 10 or 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"JPL
\nPhotograph: Michael JulianoJPL Open House 2014. <\/p>\n

\"JPL
\nPhotograph: Michael JulianoJPL Open House <\/p>\n

The rocket propulsion lab was founded back in 1936 and oversaw the launch of the United States\u2019 first satellite, and since then its Pasadena\u2013meets\u2013La Ca\u00f1ada Flintridge campus has overseen the conception and management of\u00a0multiple Mars rovers (Perseverance, Curiosity, Pathfinder) and space probes (Voyager 1 and 2). During the annual open house, you can step inside of the operations facility where all of these missions are monitored, peer into the assembly facility wear they come together, poke around the machine shop and learn all about cutting-edge robotics research.<\/p>\n

\u201cExplore JPL\u201d (formerly \u201cA Ticket to Explore JPL\u201d and simply \u201cJPL Open House\u201d before that) has mostly been on hiatus in recent years. After pausing for the pandemic, it returned in 2023 but hasn\u2019t made an appearance since then.\u00a0Meanwhile, the lab itself has faced funding\u00a0shortfalls and significant layoffs\u00a0amid\u00a0federal budget cuts. More recently, NASA announced that, for the first time ever, founder and longtime steward Caltech would need to compete to extend its management contract when its current agreement ends in 2028.<\/p>\n

\"JPL
\nPhotograph: Michael JulianoJPL Open House 2014. <\/p>\n

If you strike out with tickets for \u201cExplore JPL,\u201d the lab does offer a limited number of reservations for group and individual tours<\/a>, which are released a month at a time.\u00a0Either way, I always recommend to dress for sun exposure\u2014it can get\u00a0hot on the campus, especially if you\u2019re stuck waiting in line\u2014and to wear comfy shoes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s about as in-demand as World Cup or Olympics tickets\u00a0but with only a single zero in its price…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[20201,61,60,205897,82,6490],"class_list":["post-503334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-categories-things-to-do","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news-events-festivals","tag-science","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}