Kazan space

Got a few days in Kazan. According to his custom, he went in search of space. Previously, the capital of Tatarstan was never seen, so familiarity with the space Kazan took place in parallel with the earthly Kazan.

The first place in which you can join the cosmos in the Kremlin.

Museum of Natural History of Tatarstan
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Contrary to the name, this museum tells more about the history of the planet Earth and even a little about its neighbors. The exhibition begins with the birth of the solar system. On one wall you can compare the scale of the sun and the planets.



Here you can see and touch the real parts of space - meteorites. Both meteorites in their natural appearance and thin sections are available for viewing, allowing you to look at the internal structure and metallic crystals of iron-nickel meteorites. Unfortunately, the most beautiful type - pallasites - are lined in one piece, so it is impossible to admire them in the light. A lot of attention in the museum is paid to geology - my second interest after space.

In the hall dedicated to the birth of life there was a place even for Mars. More precisely for a piece of meteorite ALH84001.



At first I, frankly, ofigel, thought: "Wow, Tataria is cool, snatched a piece of ALH84001 ". Then I googled, and nowhere did I find information that a piece of this meteorite was being transmitted to Kazan, therefore, most likely there is a replica here. However, one can not praise the museum for such a wide coverage of the topic.

In general, the museum has a lot of interactivity, a lot can be touched, and you can excavate fossil dinosaurs:



Mixed feelings are caused by the realization that here such toothy lizards of the Permian period are the ancestors of everything hairy and feathered that ever ran, flew and wrote posts on Earth in subsequent millions of years of evolution.

We were pleased with the local collection of dinosaurs.



Next to the dinosaurs, in the next room, is the glacial fauna immediately. Such a sharp transition is traditional both for museums and for many popular science books and films, which leads to an erroneous stereotype that mammoths immediately followed dinosaurs.

In reality, from the point of view of geological chronology, we live with mammoths almost at the same time. This fact is perfectly emphasized by the opportunity to feed the mammoth living in the museum with his own hands.



We didn’t know, so we didn’t take bananas with us, so we just had to scratch them behind the ear. It is well known that both mammoths adore, as do green cats.

The collection of the museum is much richer than that presented in the photo, and definitely worth a visit.

“House of entertaining science and technology”



Another place that allows you to touch the physics, space and aviation. It is more and more adapted to the school audience: a lot of curious and amusing experiences, interactive stands, real technical products, such as aircraft engines and helicopters.



It is seen that the “Home” was created by enthusiasts, without a substantial budget. Many stands give the impression of being collected on the knee from scrap materials, which, however, does not affect their visibility.



Here you can look inside some of the mechanisms, like a sewing machine, car or piano:



Experiment with lasers and prisms:



To look into the porthole of a real spacecraft - the real descent capsule of the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft, which carried an Olympic torch to the ISS:



To get into the pilot's seat of a real jet plane:



On the second floor most of the exhibits are devoted to aviation:



Here the exhibits are mainly for viewing, but there are several stands for practical exercises.

In general, Kazan is much more aviation city than space. This is determined by the industrial specialization of the region. For example, in the city you can find a strategic supersonic bomber in the form of a monument.



I was promised a "Tu-144", and brought to the "Tu-22M3" in the Aviastroitelny area. But what he saw did not disappoint. Judging by the LED cords, stretched across the entire plane, it must be visited twice - day and night, but I only had time for a day.

The theme of “Kazan Space” is not exhausted by the Museum and the “House”. I still managed to visit the V. P. Engelhardt Astronomical Observatory outside the city, but this wonderful place requires a separate story.