National Space Centre

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The National Space Centre in Leicester
The National Space Centre in Leicester

The National Space Centre is one of the United Kingdom's leading visitor attractions 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 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 Beagle 2 Mars spacecraft was controlled from the centre's Landing Operations Control Centre.

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).

It is closed on Mondays, except for Mondays which are bank holidays or in school holidays.

Contents

[edit] Galleries and amenities

The centre has six main galleries:

  • Into Space covers most space hardware, from the rockets that take probes and humans into space, to the specially packaged food humans can eat during their stay. The gallery also includes a life-size mock-up of the European Space Agency's International Space Station Columbus module.
  • Exploring The Universe covers some of the most exotic space topics, from black holes to the age of the universe.
  • Orbiting Earth tells the story of how humans use satellites to improve their daily lives — from telecommunication to forecasting the weather.
  • Space Now is a live gallery that brings visitors "today's news from space". The gallery hosts live demonstrations, and the news desk provides visitors with an opportunity to ask any space-related questions that puzzle them. The gallery is accompanied by Space Now, a space news website.
  • Tranquillity Base opened in July 2005, and allows visitors to experience what it would be like to live in a lunar base in the year 2025. Visitors train as astronauts working for AESA — the All Earth Space Agency.

There is also the Space Theatre: an immersive digital theatre and planetarium-style based on Digistar 3 technology.

The gift shop called Cargo Bay, and the restaurant at the base of the Rocket Tower is known as Boosters.

The National Space Centre hosts the UK Government's official Near-Earth object (NEO) Information Centre [1]. An exhibition about NEOs can be found in the centre's The Planets gallery, with sister exhibitions in the Natural History Museum in London, and Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh.

[edit] Events

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, 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 is celebrates 50 Years in Space: the anniversary of the first satellite, Sputnik.

Events for 2007 include:
10 February – 25 February Space Close Up - Telescopes

  • Take control of the £10 million Faulkes Telescope in Hawaii
  • See stunning deep space telescopes, including Hubble, images
  • Learn how to use a telescope
  • Find out what you can see in the night sky tonight
  • Build star clocks and join in other craft sessions

31 March – 15 April An Alien Easter

  • See close up science with our gallery buskers
  • Join in on the Alien Egg Hunt
  • Enjoy the under 5’s storytime
  • Build your own alien and join in other craft sessions

12 April Yuri’s Night

The National Space Centre and Leicester Astronomical Society will be hosting an astronomy night, for people to come and look at the night sky, learn how to use telescopes and understand all about our little bit of space and beyond.

4 May May the Fourth be with you….

  • A champagne reception with Star Wars characters
  • A three course dinner in the Rocket Tower
  • Mingling with the stars of the film
  • Bidding on exclusive memorabilia for charity

Details have not been confirmed as of February 2007.

5 May – 7 May Star Wars 30th Birthday Celebrations

  • Meet the stars and characters from the films
  • Join the Jedi School
  • Build your own Star Wars space craft
  • Test yourself in the Star Wars interactive quiz

26 May – 3 June A Half Term journey to explore Living in Space

  • Discover what is takes to be an Astronaut
  • Learn how to cook in space
  • Becoming a Space Tourist
  • Building astronauts and other craft sessions

23 June – 24 June Armageddon… Rise of the Robots

  • Enter the Combat Zone and see the fighting robots
  • Build your own robot and compete in the arena
  • Meet robot builders and see stars from TV series Robot Wars

14 July – 3 September A Solar System Summer

A trip to one of the eight planets in our Solar System:

Each week has workshops, demonstrations, real science, crafts and competitions.

22 September– 23 September Star Wars Weekend

  • Meet your favourite characters
  • Join in craft classes
  • More information to follow

Entrance to the event is free to all National Space Centre ticket holders. Extra activities may incur a separate charge. This event is subject to change.


4 October 50 Years in Space

This is the anniversary of the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, which marks the beginning of man’s journey into space.

The National Space Centre will be celebrating the event, bringing activities for World Space Week…


3 November – 4 November Sci-fi Weekend

  • See stunning original props and costumes from the sci-fi genre
  • Take part in the world famous Alien Encounter
  • Join the Colonial Marines for a “Bug Hunt”
  • Loads more to be confirmed

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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