THIS IS LONDON JUNE EDITION 2025 - Flipbook - Page 20
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Full-scale
BepiColombo
Structural
thermal
Model, 2015
© Science
Museum Group
Sokol KV-2 rescue suit worn by Helen
Sharman, 1991 © Science Museum Group
SCIENCE MUSEUM NEW SPACE
GALLERY
As the Exploring Space gallery closes
after welcoming tens of millions of
visitors over four decades, the Science
Museum’s new Space gallery will open
to the public on Saturday 20 September.
This significant gallery will bring
together objects that celebrate the first
space age and the future of space
exploration, including cutting-edge
prototype technology created in the UK
and never before displayed.
There will be plenty of opportunities
to discover more about our galaxy, space
exploration and how astronauts go to the
toilet with free activities taking place
throughout the summer at the Science
Museum. The Space Show, a stellar new
free family show in the Lecture Theatre,
will invite visitors to see and take part in
science demonstrations and live
experiments.
Sir Ian Blatchford, Director and Chief
Executive of the Science Museum Group,
said: ‘As a species, we've always looked
to the stars. I have no doubt that the
wonders of space we showcase in our
new gallery will inspire and thrill a new
generation of visitors.
‘Whether you're fascinated by the
engineering behind space exploration,
inspired by stories of space pioneers, or
simply curious about the planets, Space
invites you to delve into humanity's
greatest adventure.’
Space will explore some of the new
technologies from the rapidly expanding
UK space sector. For example, visitors
will be able to see prototypes of new
propulsion systems by Magdrive, which
would allow small satellites to more
quickly and easily manoeuvre while in
orbit.
The first of these prototypes was
developed by one of the founders in his
daughter’s bedroom during the COVID19 pandemic lockdown. The British
company’s electric propulsion
technology uses a novel metal
propellent. This summer, Magdrive is
launching the first in-orbit test of its
prototype space thruster and, as part of
this, ran a competition in collaboration
with the Science Museum to design its
mission patch. The winning patch design
will be used for the mission and
displayed alongside the prototype
thruster in the new Space gallery.
This British story of space exploration
stretches back decades. Space will
redisplay the Sokol spacesuit worn by
Helen Sharman, who was just 27 years
old when she became the first Briton in
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space. Her journey there was anything
but typical. Sharman was working at the
confectioners, Mars, when she answered
a radio ad to join a mission to the Mir
Space Station. 54 specific measurements
went into creating her 10kg Sokol KV2
spacesuit, which she wore during the
riskiest parts of the flight.
The Soyuz TMA-19M Descent
Module, which transported the UK’s first
ESA astronaut Tim Peake to and from the
ISS – and clocked 74,000,000 miles as it
orbited the Earth – was the first flown
human spacecraft acquired by the UK
when it was collected by the Science
Museum Group. Visitors will be able to
see the scorched marks on the base of
the capsule and peer inside its
remarkably tight quarters in its display
in Space.
A three-billion-year-old piece of the
Moon will form a focal point in Space.
Visitors will be able to get close to a
sample from one of the largest Moon
rocks collected: Great Scott. Such was
the size of the rock, Astronaut David
Scott had to roll it up the leg of his space
suit and then tip it into the Lunar Rover.
It is thought to have lain on the
surface for approximately 80 million
years before it was collected during
the Apollo 15 mission.
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