Leicester's National Space Centre offers a wealth of information about all things related to space and astronauts, and I was not prepared for just how large the museum is. Visitors can certainly spend at least half a day or more at this museum and learn about various aspects of space and space exploration. There are plenty of items to see and interact with, and there's a cafe, shop, observing tower with rockets, and Planetarium.
The museum is located along the river Soar a couple of miles from the city centre of Leicester. It is easily-spotted around the area with a space-age style of building that reminds me of bubblewrap used for protecting glass bottles.
A sculpture outside the museum features as astronaut.
Visitors are met with various space objects on entering. They can then read and interact with the various exhibits. There are exhibitions with audio and video on how the universe was created and various space theories, all of the planets (sun and moon), space debris, astronauts and living in space, and so much more. It was all very interesting, and any visitor (you or old) can learn a lot.
Some space suits for different functions are on display, including the Mars suit (as the feature image) that was used in a film.
A record of Earth sounds was also sent into space. There was an exhibition on aliens.
Some meteorites were also on display.
A signed baseball is one of the features in the astronaut area.
The observation area is built on several floors, and visitors can climb up to the different levels and visit the exhibitions while making their way to the top of the rockets on display.
An old television was showing the moon landing of 1969.
A section of the international space station has been set up with some research projects.
The Planetarium is impressive. I was booked into the last film of the day, "Astronaut". The film was aimed at children and provided information about astronaut training and experiences. I would have enjoyed a more traditional "planetarium" exhibit; I have only ever been to one once, and I was very young and in Girl Scouts, so I did not get a lot out of it. I was mesmerised by the stars.
The sculpture trail in Leicester features rockets, and there was one of the sculptures outside the museum.
This is such a cool museum, and I would recommend it to anyone who is travelling around the Leicester area. Definitely have a stop on your UK staycations this year and next year.
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