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Top 5 things to see at the Science Museum if you love space

Follow this space trail and go on a journey of exploration and discovery around the Science Museum.

Stop 1: Tim Peake’s Spacecraft

Soyuz TMA-19M descent module in the Exploring Space gallery.

The first stop on our space 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 actual 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: A (real) piece of the Moon

A piece of the Moon.

Next up in Exploring Space is a real piece of Moon rock cut from the ‘Great Scott’ rock that Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott picked up from the Moon’s surface in August 1971. He almost fell over when trying to pick it up and had to roll it up the leg of his spacesuit to get a good grip on it.

Stop 3: Apollo 10 command module

Apollo 10 command module.

If you head on to our Making the Modern World gallery you will find the Apollo 10 command module. In May 1969, this module launched astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Eugene Cernan, on a lunar orbital mission as a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 landing in July 1969.

Stop 4: Eurostar 3000 Satellite 

Eurostar 3000 satellite including main satellite bus and antennas, on display in the Information Age gallery.

In our Information Age gallery, you can stand underneath the Eurostar 3000 satellite. This full-size satellite was made by EADS Astrium Ltd and carries two large reflectors contoured so as to shape the broadcast signals to their targeted areas on the ground. The heritage of Eurostar 3000 can be traced back through a series of satellite designs to the 1970s and the EADS Astrium company’s prdecessors.

Stop 5: An orrery made for the Earl of Orrery 

If you head up to Science City: The Linbury Gallery on the second floor you’ll come across another piece of history – the original orrery that was made for the Earl of Orrery by London instrument maker John Rowley in 1712.
This planetary model was originally a demonstration device used to show the motions of the Earth and Moon around the Sun. Models like this became popular during the seventeenth century especially after Sir Isaac Newton published his theory of gravity.
Orrery made for the Earl of Orrery.

Where to eat

Finally stop off at the Energy Cafe for some well-deserved lunch – or treat yourself to one of our homemade cakes and an award-winning coffee.

Cupcakes at Energy Cafe

Try at home

Continue the fun at home with Wonderlab+ , the Science Museum Group’s free learning website that brings science to life through creative and fun experiments and games. Build a rocket launcher or test your space knowledge in our weird space facts quiz.

Visitors to the museum this Easter and families at home can also enter a competition to design the mission patch for the first test mission of a prototype space thruster made by UK company Magdrive, which will soon be launched into space. The winning patch design from this competition will be used on this mission and displayed alongside the prototype thruster in the new Space gallery at the Science Museum, opening later this year.

The Science Museum is open 10.00-18.00, seven days a week. Head to our website to pre-book your free tickets.