The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics (Russian Музей космонавтики, also known as the Memorial Museum of Astronautics or Memorial Museum of Space Exploration) is a museum in Moscow, Russia, dedicated to space exploration. It is located within the base of the Monument to the Conquerors of Space in the north-east of the city. The museum contains a wide variety of Soviet and Russian space-related exhibits and models which explore the history of flight; astronomy; space exploration; space technology; and space in the arts. According to the Russian tourist board, the museum’s collection holds approximately 85,000 different items, primarily from the Soviet period, and receives approximately 300,000 visitors yearly.
The Cosmonautics Museum in Moscow is a space museum located in the basement of the Monument to the Conquerors of Space on the Cosmonauts Alley.
The Cosmonautics Museum is one of the largest scientific and technical museums in the world. The history of the museum began in the second half of the XX century, when in 1964 a monument to the Conquerors of Space appeared on the map of Moscow.
Titanium rocket at the Exhibition of Economic Achievements has become a symbol of the qualitative technological leap of its time. The launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, the first living beings and the first man in space became the starting point in the world cosmonautics.
So the cosmos became closer to humanity. Time to write a story.
Museum of Cosmonautics is located in the basement part of the monument “To the Conquerors of Space” – a unique monument in Moscow. Erected in honor of the launch of the first artificial satellite by architects MO Barshch, AN Kolchin and sculptor AP Faydysh Krandiyevsky and open-November 4, 1964.
The idea of creating a museum owned by chief designer of space rocket systems SP Queen. The museum was inaugurated on April 10, 1981, the 20th anniversary of the space flight YA Gagarin. The museum carefully preserved samples of space technology, personal belongings figures space industry, archival documents, film and photographs, numismatics, philately, and philocarty faleristics, works of fine and decorative arts.
Though the space monument’s tower was erected in 1964, the memorial museum did not exist for another seventeen years. Opening ceremonies took place on April 10, 1981, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the day Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth in space.
The museum primarily focuses on the Soviet space program with major themes like Gagarin, Sergey Korolev, Sputnik and Soyuz.
On Cosmonautics Day, 2009, the museum was reopened after three years of reconstruction. It has virtually tripled its original size and has added new sections dedicated to space programs worldwide, including the USA, Europe, China and the ISS. The museum now features original interactive exhibits, as well as a refurbished promenade, the sculpture-lined Cosmonauts Alley which connects the museum to the Moscow metro. The museum is a favourite of students worldwide and a primary tourist attraction of the city.
On April 11, 2009, the opening ceremony of the Cosmonautics Museum was held after the reconstruction. During the reconstruction, the exhibition areas of the museum were enlarged to 4350 m2. In the museum there was a conference hall, a club of veterans of space, a public library of space orientation, a cafe for 50 seats. The cinema hall was updated. In the exposition appeared a full-scale model of the fragment of the station “Mir”, into which one can go inside. “Kosmotrek” hall opened in which everyone can take part in the space quiz. In the new part, a branch of the Flight Control Center has appeared, on the screen of which it is possible to watch the movement of the ISS and direct connections to cosmonauts live on the air.
The modern exposition consists of the following halls:
“The morning of the space age”;
“Creators of the space age”;
“Space house in orbit” (modern manned space flight);
“Studies of the Moon and the planets of the solar system”;
“Cosmonautics to humanity”;
“International cooperation in outer space”;
“International Space Park” (space nations of the world, rocket and space industry in Russia);
“History and culture of the space age”.
Geography of the exhibition activities of the museum: Russia, CIS countries, Great Britain, USA, India, Australia, Mongolia, Germany, Spain, France, China. So, every day, the space becomes even closer.
The Cosmonautics Museum is adapted for the access of the less mobile groups of the population: blind and visually impaired visitors, visitors with impairment of the musculoskeletal system.
Every year the museum provides its exhibition space for the creative work of disabled people. In museum events and events, disabled people of all categories can take part.
November 2, 2016 on the official website of the museum there was information about the creation of a musical experiment with the company 3plet Publishing called “The First Space”. The essence of the project is to create a music collection that will become an audio accompaniment to real spacecraft: satellites, spacecraft, lunar rovers, orbital stations, rocket engines.