Series on the 2023/2024 budget
Simulated space flight 2.0
A white low-rise building, exhibition areas, a high ropes course and a 36-metre-high, shiny rocket on the roof: the Cosmonaut Centre has been an integral part of Chemnitz's educational and cultural landscape since 14 August 1964.
Named after Sigmund Jähn, the first German space traveller and honorary citizen of the city, it is now part of the adventure education centre in Küchwaldpark. "School classes or individuals can come here and have various questions answered. For example: What is the Milky Way? How big is the Earth? How far away are the planets? ", reports Stephan Claus, head of the centre.
A total of four full-time and four volunteer employees ensure that the centre runs smoothly. In addition, there are the so-called "Stammis". These are children between the ages of 9 and 18. They offer guided tours, provide expert information or lead simulated space flights. All according to the principle of "children for children". "The regular staff at the centre give children and young people the opportunity to volunteer and earn a little something on top of their pocket money," explains Claus.
While the cosmonaut centre has been repeatedly expanded and the sanitary facilities thoroughly modernised in 2004, the fire protection system is now getting on in years. The city council has now set aside 25,000 euros for the modernisation. Subject to approval by the Saxony State Directorate, the modernisation of the fire protection system is also the start of a comprehensive redesign of the "space capsule", which is located directly below the rocket. This is where the simulated space flights take place. Claus describes the problem as follows: "The state of the art is from the 70s and 80s. A lot of it no longer works. And we simply don't have the expertise to repair it."
With additional funding, panoramic glass panes will enable a view of the earth from orbit, passengers will be included in the simulation via wireless headphones and even climbing harnesses will create a feeling of weightlessness. The old technical equipment will not be destroyed, but will be preserved for visitors in display cases, among other things. "Visitors, especially the younger ones, are already asking us: Have we really just been in space? This should be even more the case and be experienced even more," says Claus, looking to the future.
Since the end of 2022, the Cosmonaut Centre has also had its own escape room. The task: to find the way out of a locked space capsule by solving puzzles. Playful and inventive, the centre also organises an annual pimple building block competition. Children can haptically visualise their visions of space travel or the cosmonaut centre, and the best entries are honoured with prizes and an exhibition.
The most important facts at a glance
- Sigmund Jähn, who gave it his name, visited the cosmonaut centre a total of eleven times from 1980 onwards.
- The technology from the space capsule includes computers from the manufacturer Robotron.
- In addition to exhibition areas and the space capsule, there is also an escape room.
- Submitting parliamentary groups: CDU, Die LINKE/Die PARTEI, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, SPD and FDP.
- The rocket on the roof of the Cosmonaut Centre is modelled on the Vostok I - the rocket in which Yuri Gagarin was the first man to travel into the cosmos.
- The Cosmonaut Centre is run by solaris Förderzentrum für Jugend und Umwelt gGmbH, which is funded by the City of Chemnitz.
