In The Name Of Peace - a propaganda poster:
Sputnik 3 engineering model. This was originally going to be the first to be launched, but a smaller simpler vehicle was used as Sputnik 1, and this became Sputnik 3:
Dog ejection seat, used on sub-orbital flights in the 1950s:
Major Yuri Gagarin's uniform and the oxygen mask he used as a pilot:
Valentina Tereshkova and her Vostok 6. This is the actual capsule she flew in, as the world's first woman in space:
Another view of Vostok 6:
A VZA ejection seat, with a spacesuit similar to that worn by Ms Tereshkova. The Vostok space capsule descended too fast for the occupant to safely land inside it, so he or she had to eject at an altitude of 7 kilometres. I never knew they had to do this;
The control panel from a Vostok capsule:
This is the actual Voskhod 1, the first capsule to carry multiple occupants, and yet it's no bigger than the Vostok capsule above. They managed to squeeze three seats into it, and it was so cramped that the cosmonauts had difficulty in seeing their instrument panels:
A closer look at the interior of Voskhod 1. You can see the three seats:
A line up of models of unmanned probes. At the far end is Sputnik 3, then models of Luna 1, Luna 9 and Luna 16. Then, at the end, with the parachute risers, is an engineering model of Venera 7, which landed on Venus and lasted for 23 minutes in the hostile environment:
Spacesuits - the one in the middle is set in a 21KS Manoeuvring Unit for use during space walks:
More suits and equipment. The objets in the glass case at lower left is an emergency pressure chamber:
Food containers for use in zero gravity:
Soyuz TM-14, which flew to the Mir space station in 1992. It was the first Soyuz capsule launched by the Russian Federation after the demise of the USSR:
The interior of Soyuz TM-14. It carried three occupants:
A Soyuz capsule instrument panel:
More propaganda posters:
This was fascinating. I've since looked up the story of Soyuz T-13 and the rescue of the Salyut space station:
http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-t13.htm
Lunokhod-2, a lunar rover:
This is a full size engineering model of the LK-3 lander, the one-man equivalent of the American two-man Lunar Excursion Module. Incredible to see !
Another view:
This is the Tissue Equivalent Phantom Mannequin. It was sent around the moon in Zond-7 in 1969, and around the Earth in Cosmos-368 in 1970. It was fitted with sensors to measure the effects of radiation:
The exhibition runs till March 13th, and you can buy tickets online at the Science Museum website. It is truly wonderful - do not miss it.
Merry Christmas all !
