The National Space Centre is one of the United Kingdom's leading visitor attractions that is 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 tower (pictured right) is 42 metres tall.
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 failed Beagle 2 Mars spacecraft was controlled from the centre's Landing Operations Control Centre. UK Government's official Near-Earth object (NEO) Information Centre [1] is also based at the centre.
The National Space Centre currently has post-doctoral science researchers based at the University of Leicester's Space Research Centre (SRC) and the University of Nottingham's Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG).
The Centre has on display the only known Soyuz spacecraft in Western Europe (there is one at the Smithsonian Institution as part of their Apollo-Soyuz Test Project display).
The centre has six main galleries of exhibits and visitor activities covering space flight, astronomy and cosmology. The attraction also includes a Digistar 3 dome cinema and planetarium, a gift shop and a restaurant.
The Centre's own digital visualisation team, NSC Creative, make all the "fulldome" planetarium shows shown at the Centre. At present, NSC Creative fulldome shows are playing in over 150 planetaria in 20 countries worldwide. These productions include the official International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) planetarium show "We are Astronomers" which was funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Apollo program astronaut Buzz Aldrin 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. More recently the National Space Centre hosted a UK tour of the NASA STS-121 crew, including UK born Piers Sellers. The crew spoke to MPs, industry leaders and school children about the UK Space Industry. Many of the children who met the crew said they were inspired to consider science and technology as a further education topic.
In 2007 the National Space Centre celebrated 50 Years in Space: the anniversary of the first satellite, Sputnik.
Looks at the fascinating questions about space travel, going from launch into orbit, investigating life in Space and looking to the future. It deals with the teamwork, hardware and technology behind getting into space. Of all the areas, this one probably has the most “hands-on” interactive exhibits: you can launch model rockets, build satellites and see if you “have got what it takes” to be an astronaut.
You will also get an idea of the size of the International Space Station by walking through a full-scale model of Europe’s Columbus module, and be able to compare that with a full scale Mercury capsule.
Into Space is continued in the 42-metre Rocket Tower, which houses some of our largest rockets and satellites. As well as finding out more about how rockets work and survive the conditions in space, in the tower the visitor can marvel at these examples of space technology, or simply look at a wonderful view of the city!
Exploring the Universe uses technology in a more mysterious and hidden way to bring to life the wonders and mind-blowing aspects of our universe. “Where did we come from?”, “How did the Universe begin?”, “Is there anybody out there”. From black holes to backyard astronomy. Exploring the Universe is very image intensive and has a large number of physical interactives. It also contains a stellarium – a magical 3-dimensional “scoop” of the universe showing stars’ locations, magnitudes and colours. This stellarium took over six years to build and is one of only eight in the entire world and the only one outside of America.
Explores the facts, but also the myths, the magic and the fiction. Mars might be a rusty red rocky planet, but in many minds it is home to the Martians and the Tripods or might even be the planet they hope to go and live on one day. We used to believe that the Moon was made of green cheese, but now we have sent dozens of probes to find out about its origin and composition, and have even walked on its surface! The culture and history surrounding each planet is very rich – from early woodcuts to modern-day music and films – and this is intermingled with more scientific artefacts such as meteorites and models of satellites. National Curriculum topics, such as reasons for seasons and tides & eclipses, are explained by physical interactives.
Explores the way that we look at our dynamic and beautiful planet. We use space on a daily basis: weather forecasting, communications, television, navigation, tracking and mapping. A multitude of scientific experiments are all done from space using satellite technology. These satellites produce beautiful, colourful and intricate images that can be appreciated both scientifically and aesthetically. The challenge of Orbiting Earth is to explain how we sense the Earth in an inviting, interactive way, without losing the sense of awe that our planet can inspire, or intimidating those who are unused to technology.
Investigate the many exhibits that tell a story of the UK’s involvement in cutting edge space exploration. Watch live demonstrations meet scientists and find the answers to those questions that have puzzled you. Space Now seeks to enthuse and inform. With live demonstrations, web terminals and discovery boxes of information, this area offers the opportunity to choose which topic to explore.
