Words by Izzy Boulton

Astronaut Tim PeakeÔÇÖs spacecraft has landed in the National Museum Cardiff ÔÇô taking out some of its windows in the process!

The spacecraft which transported Peake to and from the International Space Station is available to view from the 15th November 2018 until the 10th February 2019, alongside his spacesuit that he wore in transit and the enormous parachute used to help slow the spacecraft. It has already visited six locations across the UK, having just recently come from Peterborough Cathedral.

During its time at the Cathedral it was visited by 170,000 people and increased the number of people visiting the cathedral by 800%. WhatÔÇÖs really amazing is that this is all free to the public and allows anyone to marvel at the authentic spacecraft that has travelled over 74 million miles, from children who dream of becoming an astronaut, to space junkies who watched the descent live. Something uniquely special about the exhibition is the Space Descent VR supported by Samsung, which allows you to experience PeakeÔÇÖs 250-mile descent to Earth inside the infamous Soyuz capsule.

Pete Dickenson, Head of Communications and Audience Insights for the Science Museum, opened the event and really characterized the journey ahead of the experience. To reach the International Space Station the spacecraft travelled at 17,000mph, and on its return it reached temperatures of 1,500 degrees Celsius. All of this imagery was brilliant foreshadowing to the exhibition and the virtual reality experience. With a 360 degree view of being in space, narrated by Tim Peake himself, the quality of detail truly makes you feel like you are a flight engineer, and PeakeÔÇÖs right-hand man.

All of this VR experience is available to visitors 13 years and over and tickets can be bought on the day for ┬ú6 per person. At times it seems that people forget that Cardiff is bursting with culture as the city is often missing from the tour dates of music concerts, theatre productions and others. David Anderson, Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru ÔÇô National Museum Wales shares that ÔÇ£We are very excited about bringing the Soyuz TMA-19M capsule to Cardiff and WalesÔǪ this is an unmissable opportunity for visitors young and old to see the craft that brought Tim Peake all the way back from spaceÔÇØ.

Having the exhibition at the National Museum Cardiff (which in itself is an amazing space) will undoubtedly draw in visitors, and the tour will be accompanied by an outreach programme to engage young people in schools with potential futures in STEM subjects. A programme of activities dedicated to Tim PeakeÔÇÖs Principa mission will run throughout the exhibition with a special space themed family fun day on the 17th November and a star themed Christmas event on the 15th and 16th December.

This exhibition is bringing a really exciting energy to Cardiff and it couldnÔÇÖt be recommended enough. Dickenson closed sharing how he hoped that everyone would ÔÇ£enjoy thinking about all of the incredible work that it took to get people up to the international space station and the phenomenal voyage that the spacecraft made

For More information visit: https://museum.wales/cardiff  //  0300 111 2 333