National Space Centre
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|
  National Space Centre | |
  Location of National Space Centre in Leicester | |
| Established | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Location | Belgrave, Leicester |
| Type | Space (and aerospace) museum |
| Website | National Space Centre |
The National Space Centre is one of the United Kingdom's leading visitor attractions that is devoted to space science and astronomy. It is located in the city of Leicester, England, next to the River Soar on the A6.
History
The building was designed by Nicholas Grimshaw, and it opened to the public on 30 June 2001.[citation needed] The tower is 42 metres tall.[citation needed]
University of Leicester
The centre arose from a partnership between the University of Leicester's Space Research Centre and local government agencies.[citation needed] The total construction cost was £52m, £26m of which came from a Millennium Commission grant, and the rest from private sector sponsors.[citation needed] It is run as an educational charity, and offers science workshops for school children of all ages.[citation needed]
The National Space Centre currently has post-doctoral science researchers based at the University of Leicester's Space Research Centre (SRC) and the University of Nottingham's Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG).[citation needed]
Main exhibits
The Centre has on display one of the only known Soyuz spacecraft in Western Europe (there are two others in France at the Cité de l'espace and, in the United States, another Soyuz spacecraft is at the Smithsonian Institution as part of their Apollo-Soyuz Test Project display).[citation needed]
The centre has six main galleries of exhibits and visitor activities covering space flight, astronomy and cosmology. The attraction also includes a Digistar 3 dome cinema and planetarium, a gift shop and a restaurant. The restaurant is situated beneath the two nozzles of the Blue Streak and PGM-17 Thor rockets.
Facilities
Digital visualisation
The Centre's own digital visualisation team, NSC Creative, make all the "fulldome" planetarium shows shown at the Centre.[citation needed] At present, NSC Creative fulldome shows are playing in over 150 planetaria in 20 countries worldwide.[citation needed] These productions include the official International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) planetarium show "We are Astronomers" which was funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).[citation needed]
Near Earth objects
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The failed Beagle 2 Mars spacecraft was controlled from the centre's Landing Operations Control Centre.[citation needed] UK Government's official Near-Earth object (NEO) Information Centre[1] is also based at the centre.[citation needed]
Events
- Apollo program astronaut Buzz Aldrin visited the Space Centre in June 2005.[citation needed]
- The first Star Wars Day was held on 30 July 2005.[citation needed] Due to the popularity of this event, Star Wars weekend was held on 12 and 13 November 2005.[citation needed]
- The centre hosted a Doctor Who exhibition from 22 November 2005 to 8 January 2006.[citation needed]
- A Sci-Fi Weekend on the weekend beginning 17 June 2006 included a live-action experience similar to Alien War.[citation needed]
- On 19 July 2006 NASA astronaut Brian Duffy visited and told people about his trip to space.[citation needed]
- More recently the National Space Centre hosted a UK tour by the NASA STS-121 crew, including UK born astronaut Piers Sellers.[citation needed] The crew spoke to MPs, industry leaders and school children about the UK Space Industry.[citation needed] Many of the children who met the crew said they were inspired to consider science and technology as a further education topic.[citation needed]
In 2007 the National Space Centre celebrated 50 Years in Space: the anniversary of the first satellite, Sputnik.[citation needed]
See also
References
External links
Video clips
- Buildings and structures completed in 2001
- Museums in Leicester
- Science and technology in the United Kingdom
- Space-related visitor attractions
- National museums of the United Kingdom
- Technology museums in the United Kingdom
- Science museums in England
- Leicester
- University of Leicester
- Buildings and structures in Leicester
- Buildings and structures celebrating the third millennium
- Planetaria in the United Kingdom
- Visitor attractions in Leicestershire
- Space programme of the United Kingdom
- Astronomy museums
- Aerospace museums in England
- Nicholas Grimshaw buildings