Science Museum launches Space gallery

London’s Science Museum has opened its first new gallery about space exploration in nearly 40 years.

The Space gallery on the ground floor of the museum is free to enter and replaces the old Exploring Space gallery. The new permanent exhibition includes the Soyuz descent module and the Apollo 10 command module, which are displayed alongside each other for the first time.

Visitors can also see objects such as a three-billion-year-old piece of the moon, the spacecraft that carried astronaut Tim Peake and a newly-conserved space suit worn by Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut.

There is a big focus on new technologies from the UK space sector, with objects including prototype propulsion technology from Magdrive.

The centrepiece of the gallery is the Science in a Sphere AV installation, which features a large globe where a series of projectors display data and imagery from the solar system and beyond, narrated by Sharman.

“The objects have a bit more space to breathe in the new gallery so that visitors can really appreciate them,” said the gallery’s lead curator Abbie MacKinnon.

“You can see almost every single object in the round, which is not always the case, and all the glass cases allow nice views through the gallery.”

The new display cases were supplied by Glasshaus while there are also four cases that were refurbished from a previous exhibition. 

Many of the objects are on loan to the museum and there have also been a number of acquisitions.

“Loans are a huge asset to any museum, and we're no exception,” MacKinnon said. “The Apollo 10 command module, of course, has been on loan to us from the National Air and Space Museum in the US since the late 1970s, so it very much has its permanent home here. 

“And we have a few other loans from National Air and Space Museum, such as an Apollo fuel cell and an Apollo simulator panel that is on display next to Apollo 10.”

“And we've got a few new loans from some new companies that we've made connections with. We have an eight-centimetre diameter lunar rover called LEV2, or lunar excursion vehicle number two, and that's an engineering model on loan from the toy company Tomy in Japan. That’s the first time ever there's been a partnership between a toy company and a space agency.”

The objects on display are accompanied by a number of stories on the people involved in space exploration. These include well-known figures such as Sharman and Peake, but also less high-profile people such as mathematicians and software engineers. 

“We wanted to have as diverse a set of people as we could, but also to represent a broad range of the different things you can do in space – it’s not just the astronauts,” MacKinnon said.

“Of course we had to feature Tim and Helen but also we thought about the other people who work in the industry.”

A new retail range is available from the Space shop, which is next to the gallery, and also online. Highlights include the Grand Tour poster and accompanying range, which honours Nasa’s historic Voyager missions, an exclusive children’s astronaut suit and helmet for young adventurers, and a print of Earthrise, the famous photograph captured by Apollo 8’s Bill Anders and recently digitally remastered by Apollo imaging specialist Andy Saunders. 

Space is the first of three new free galleries that will reimagine the ground floor of the museum. Tomorrow: The Bennett Gallery is expected to open in early 2027 and will showcase the scientific research that will change our future.

Fundraising is currently underway to support Ages of Invention, which will explore the innovations that shaped our present and is expected to open towards the end of this decade.