Stop 1: Tim Peake’s Spacecraft
The first stop on our tour is the Exploring Space gallery. After a mind-boggling national tour, attracting 1.3 million visitors, Tim Peake’s Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft is now on permanent display in our Exploring Space gallery.
It is the spacecraft that took astronauts Yuri Malenchenko, Tim Kopra, and Tim Peake up to the International Space Station in 2015 and then returned them safely to the Earth the following year. If you look closely you can see the scorch marks left from their re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere.
Stop 2: Pattern Pod
Stop by Pattern Pod and let your little ones chase water ripples without getting their feet wet, create symmetrical images on touch screens, follow robot trails and much more.
Fun, interactive exhibits encourage them to recognise and copy patterns—or create entirely new ones of their own.
Stop 3: Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
Our next stop is Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries. Here you can explore our relationship with medicine and health through interactive displays and step inside Gibson’s Victorian pharmacy, brought back to life through an immersive digital experience.
One of our family favourites and a must-visit for 3–6-year-olds and their parents/guardians. Discover science through play in 4 exciting interactive areas – construction, water, light and sound. Plus, our friendly Explainers are on hand to answer any questions. Simply head down to level -1, the gallery is just opposite the Basement Café.
Stop 5: Flight
Love planes? We do too. Head up to the Flight gallery and discover the absorbing story of flight, from mankind’s earliest dreams of flight to the wide-body aeroplanes of today.
Where to eat
Cool off at the Shake Bar, where you can treat yourself to delicious made-to-order ice cream milkshakes or design your own ice cream tubs.
Try at home
Continue the fun at home with Wonderlab+ , the Science Museum Group’s free learning website for children that brings science to life through creative and fun experiments and games. Solve a mysterious power cut in Total Darkness, an adventure game which encourages children to use their science skills, discover make-and-do activities you can try at home, or watch videos where Science Museum explainers break down the science behind space rockets.
The Science Museum is open 10.00-18.00, seven days a week (last entry 17.15). Head to our website to pre-book your free tickets.
Free WiFi is available throughout the museum.