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The National Space Centre
is one of the United Kingdom
's leading visitor attraction
s devoted to space science and astronomy
. It is located in the city of Leicester
, England
, next to the River Soar
. The building was designed by Nicholas Grimshaw
, and it opened to the public on 30 June
2001
.
The centre arose from a partnership between the University of Leicester
's Space Research Centre and local government agencies. The total construction cost was £52m, £26m of which came from a Millennium Commission
grant, and the rest from private sector
sponsors. It is run as an educational charity, and offers science workshops for school children of all ages.
The Beagle 2
Mars
spacecraft was controlled from the centre's Landing Operations Control Centre.
The Centre has on display the only known Soyuz spacecraft
in Europe (there is one at the Smithsonian Institution
as part of the ASTP
display).
It is closed on Mondays, except for Mondays which are bank holiday
s or in school holiday
s.
Galleries and amenities
The centre has six main galleries:
Into Space covers most space hardware, from the rockets that take probes and humans into space, to the specially packaged food humans can eat during their stay. The gallery also includes a life-size mock-up of the European Space Agency
's International Space Station
Columbus module.
Exploring The Universe covers some of the most exotic space topics, from black holes
to the age of the universe
.
The Planets gallery covers everything in our Solar System
. It houses a real piece of Moon
rock, brought back by the astronaut
s of the Apollo 17
mission, and a sizable Martian meteorite
.
Orbiting Earth tells the story of how humans use satellite
s to improve their daily lives — from telecommunication
to forecasting the weather.
Space Now is a live gallery that brings visitors "today's news from space". The gallery hosts live demonstrations, and the news desk provides visitors with an opportunity to ask any space-related questions that puzzle them. The gallery is accompanied by [ Space Now ]
, a space news website.
Tranquillity Base opened in July 2005, and allows visitors to experience what it would be like to live in a lunar base in the year 2025. Visitors train as astronauts working for AESA — the All Earth Space Agency.
There is also the Space Theatre: an immersive digital theatre and planetarium-style based on Digistar 3
technology.
The gift shop called Cargo Bay, and the restaurant at the base of the Rocket Tower is known as Boosters.
The National Space Centre hosts the UK Government
's official Near-Earth object
(NEO) Information Centre [ * ]
. An exhibition about NEOs can be found in the centre's The Planets gallery, with sister exhibitions in the Natural History Museum
in London
, and Our Dynamic Earth
in Edinburgh
.
Events
Buzz Aldrin
, the second man to walk on the
Moon
, visited the Space Centre in June 2005.
The first Star Wars Day
was held on 30 July
2005
. Due to the popularity of this event, Star Wars
weekend was held on 12 November
and 13 November
2005
. The centre hosted a Doctor Who
exhibition from 22 November
2005
to 8 January
2006
. A Sci-Fi
Weekend on the weekend beginning 17 June
2006
included a live-action experience similar to Alien War
.
On 19 July
2006
NASA
astronaut Brian Duffy
visited and told people about his trip to space.
See also
British National Space Centre
University of Leicester
External links
[
Official website ]
[
Space Now, the NSC's news service ]
[
NEO Information Centre ]
<Visitor attractions in Leicestershire>
<Museums in England>
<Science and technology in the United Kingdom>
<British national museums>
<Technology museums>
<Science museums>
<Leicester>
<University of Leicester>
<Structures celebrating the third millennium>
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