Stop 1: Making the Modern World gallery
The first stop on this transport tour is the Making the Modern World gallery and specifically the wonderful Puffing Billy, the world’s oldest surviving steam locomotive.
Dating to 1813-1814, Puffing Billy was built by William Hedley, Jonathan Forster, and Timothy Hackworth, for use at the Wylam Colliery near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
Whilst you’re in the gallery take a look around and see how many other forms of transport you can find.
Stop 2: Apollo 10 command module
If you keep walking through the 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 3: Information Age gallery
Next up is our Information Age gallery on level 2 of the museum. Here you will find a Google Street View Trike made by the United States in 2009.
Streetview trikes are used to collect images from places that cars cannot fit, such as narrow streets, university campuses, and heritage sites. This was the first Google Trike to be used in Europe and has photographed sites including Pompeii, Stonehenge, and Versailles.
Stop 4: Flight gallery
It wouldn’t be a transport tour if we didn’t stop at the Flight gallery. Including overhead walkways that allow you to get up close to aeroplanes suspended in the air, this gallery is spectacular.
From human-kind’s earliest dreams of flight to the wide-body aeroplanes of today, discover the absorbing story of flight.
Stop 5: Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
When you’re finished up in Flight head down to Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries on Level 1.
Here, you’ll find more than 3,000 medical artefacts, striking artworks, interactive games and immersive experiences that bring the history of medicine to life.
You will also find a bicycle used within an initial trial of the London Ambulance Cycle Response Unit. The bike was customised and used by Tom Lynch MBE, Cycle Response Unit Manager and former British BMX racing champion.
Where to eat
Finally stop off at the Energy Cafe for some well-deserved lunch or to treat yourself to one of our homemade cakes and an award-winning coffee.
Try at home
Continue the fun at home with the My Robot Mission AR app. Created in partnership with 42 Kids, this new skills-building app combines a series of fun challenges and the latest augmented reality technology to help you think like a scientist. Create your own robot and help it overcome future world problems. Recommended for ages 10–12. You can download the game for free from the App Store or Google Play to play at home now.
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.