Technik Museum Speyer · Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany · October 2025
A Soviet space shuttle, Felix Baumgartner's trailer, race cars, fighter planes and a cathedral on the skyline.
GERMANYOn October 21, 2025, after Colmar, Philipp and I drove north along the Rhine to Speyer and spent hours in the Technik Museum Speyer. If you like anything with an engine, wings or wheels, this place is heaven: a real space shuttle, airplanes you can walk into, Formula 1 cars, classic cars, a fire truck from America and the trailer of a man who jumped from the edge of space.
Our visit, step by step
- Space The Buran shuttle and an Apollo 17 suit
- Stratos Felix Baumgartner's trailer and suit
- Fly Planes on the roof and in the halls
- Race Formula 1 cars, a race truck and the Ford GT
- Classics A gullwing, a Rolls-Royce and a Trabant
From the museum grounds you look across the treetops to the Speyer Cathedral, one of the largest Romanesque churches in the world, with airplanes parked out front. Not a view you get every day.
A real space shuttle
The star of the museum is Buran, the Soviet answer to the American Space Shuttle. This is OK-GLI, the test vehicle that flew 25 test flights in the atmosphere in the 1980s to try out the landing. It came to Speyer in 2008, and standing under it is amazing: it's huge. All around it the space hall tells the story of spaceflight, from Soyuz capsules to Spacelab. One display shows a replica of the Apollo 17 suit of Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon, standing in front of a gold-wrapped lunar module.
Red Bull Stratos
Then came one of my favorite exhibits: Red Bull Stratos. In October 2012, the Austrian Felix Baumgartner jumped from a balloon capsule at 38,969 meters (almost 128,000 feet) and reached 1,342 km/h (834 mph) in free fall, breaking the sound barrier with his body. The museum shows his silver Airstream trailer, his retreat before and after the jump, together with the original pressure suit from his first test flight. On the wall is his famous line: "Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are."
It hit a little harder because Felix Baumgartner died in a paragliding accident in Italy in July 2025, just three months before our visit. It felt like a tribute.
Planes everywhere
Look up in any hall and there are airplanes hanging from the roof. A black Fokker Dr.I triplane from World War I, the type made famous by the Red Baron, hangs right above you. A Messerschmitt Bf 109 stands with its engine cover open, so you can see the big V12 inside, with a Swiss jet hanging overhead.
Formula 1 and a racing truck
For race fans there's a whole hall. We found a blue Red Bull Sauber Formula 1 car, a Ligier #25 in its famous blue Gitanes and Loto colors, and a BMW 3.0 CSL race car #27 painted in the Bavarian blue-and-white diamonds. Next to it was a bright yellow MAN race truck, driven in the European truck racing championship by Fritz Kreutzpointner. Yes, they race trucks. And of course a Ford GT in the legendary light-blue and orange Gulf colors.
Gullwings, a Rolls-Royce and a Trabant
The classic car collection is just as good. The silver Mercedes 300 SL "Gullwing" from 1954, with 215 hp and red leather inside, is pure beauty. There's a big black-and-silver Rolls-Royce with "Museum Speyer" on the plate, a blue Mercedes convertible covered in chrome, and a little light-blue Trabant 601 S from 1990 with its 26 hp. In East Germany, people waited up to 15 years to get one. And far from home, just like us: a shiny red American LaFrance fire truck from the USA.
Tip: plan a whole day, and wear comfortable shoes. The museum is huge, and you'll want to climb into the planes too.
Good to know
- Where
- Technik Museum Speyer, next to the old town and the cathedral in Speyer, on the Rhine
- Don't miss
- The Buran shuttle and the space hall, Red Bull Stratos, the planes you can walk into, the race cars
- Open
- Every day of the year. Check the website for times and tickets.
- How long
- At least half a day; a full day if you love cars and planes
- Sister museum
- Technik Museum Sinsheim, about 30 minutes away, with a Concorde on the roof
- Website
- technik-museum.de
Space shuttle, Gullwing or race truck: which would you see first?
Tell me in the comments, or send me a question if you're planning a trip to Speyer.
