Space exhibitions in Moscow

In 2016 in Moscow there was a boom of space exhibitions. The conceptual atmospheric exhibition Solaris in Artplay was added to the permanent exhibitions of the Museum of Cosmonautics and Planetarium, the Polytech brought the exhibition "Cosmos: the birth of a new era" touring there from London at the VDNH, and the Russian Space exhibition was opened in London. I went around everything, and now I share my impressions and recommendations about what I saw.



Solaris on Artplay





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There is very little astronautics here, but there are many attempts to express the sensation of the cosmos by various technological and artistic means. The organizers had previously held the exhibition “VanGog's revived canvases”, now they have moved to space. Interesting about her Cord write a song?



Visitors to Solaris can:

Feel the power of attraction on Uranus.







Hear your voice on Mars.







Look at the moon.







Dive into a black hole, go through it all, coming out on the other side.











The exhibition is of little interest to those who are interested in science and technology, but may come to mind those who are interested in space as a presentiment. Despite the alien flora and fauna, the black hole in the looking-glass, and occasionally appearing aliens, the exhibition cannot be called fantastic, it is the artist’s view of the very real space and an attempt to display it with available means on the fifth floor of the former Manomet instrument plant.







The place is quite suitable to spend an hour or two in a dark room with thoughts of space, to watch a movie or a science show with pyrotechnics and a Tesla coil.



Tickets from 315 to 500 rubles.



"Cosmos: the birth of a new era"







This exhibition "Polytech" collected "with the world on a string" of exhibits and real engineering models and prototypes, which were stored in enterprises and educational institutions of the rocket and space industry. You can see in the pavilion number 1 at ENEA.







Something here is similar to the collection of the Museum of Cosmonautics, but some products are unique and can no longer be seen anywhere else, unless there is a special pass. Oddly enough, the British saw the exhibition in large numbers in London. We were lucky that after returning the exhibits were not transported back to the vaults and secret hangars. I am afraid no one would do this especially for Russia, so we have to inspect the British.















At the exhibition you can see the original ship "Sunrise", from which, for the first time in the history of astronautics, a spacewalk was carried out.











Separately exhibited almost the entire range of domestic spacesuits from the early "Berkut" to the prototypes created for the experiment "Mars-500".











Much attention is paid to the systems of life and work of the crew.







In appearance, some devices look like mysterious black metal boxes, but if you look at the description and at least an exemplary structure, it comes to the simple realization that without these bulky boxes, Gagarin’s flight or the many years of Mira’s work would not have been possible.



















So, this exhibition is an unconditional choice of engineers and all lovers of the history of the national astronautics.







Although the doctor will find curious moments for himself.







And a costume designer.







And the designer.











About the development of the design of spacecraft and stations previously published interesting material .



Unmanned space program on the "Birth of a new era" also paid attention, but less than manned. The collection loses to the Museum of Cosmonautics, where you can see full-size layouts, not large-scale ones.







Although something can be seen in a single copy. For example, the engineering layout of the "Venus-7", which once passed heat vacuum tests before the flight of a real apparatus.







The main highlight of the exhibition program is the Soviet "lunnik" - a manned landing gear, which was prepared for landing on the moon during the lunar race.







Lunik allocated a separate room with an additional viewing gallery, allowing to inspect the device from all sides.











In the corners of the hall, a vintage film by Peter Klushantsev about the landing on the moon was broadcast.







After the moon festival the exhibition ends, which leaves a dreary sediment about past greatness and unfulfilled exploits. Here, Roskosmos would put up a "Luna-25" or "Federation" or "Radioastron" so that it was clear that the cause of the heroes of the past was not forgotten and the space would be ours.



Tickets: 250 rubles.



Russian Space







The most stupid exhibition on seven floors, of which there really is something to look at two.



View passes from top to bottom. On the upper floors, you can see even more design concepts that have become the basis of the design of "Unions", "Salutes" and "Peace".











On the floor below, Tsiolkovsky’s sketches are amazing in their foresight. I can not even believe that the power of the mind of a simple school teacher could look almost a century into the future and see the details of everyday space work in such details.















The hall with historical astrophotographs is also interesting:







But then comes the three floors of the exhibition of contemporary art. This is an exhibition of those who are joking: throw a cigarette butt in the corner, and everyone will walk, look and nod approvingly of the artist’s deep conceptuality.















Nevertheless, viewing the exhibition is included in the ticket paid for the "Russian Space".



Reassure the conscience for the money spent is possible only at the very bottom, where the same sphere is installed that delivered Gagarin to space and from space.















Tickets: 500 rubles.



Recently, the original Gagarin "Vostok" was restored to "Energy" and is now shown to everyone. If there is no desire or opportunity to go to the exhibition, you can look at the workplace of Gagarin virtually thanks to the photographer Andrei Bodrov.







The emergence of such exhibition abundance is not accidental. On the one hand, all exhibitions are timed to the 55th anniversary of the flight of Gagarin. But on the other hand, the heightened public interest in the space theme is evidently influenced by the successes of private cosmonautics, the information policy of Roscosmos and the efforts of the popularizers. Another factor has changed from previous years: Roskosmos has become more open. If two years ago, pulling out "Lunokhod" and "Venus" on Igromir was practically a feat, not because of, but in spite of, then now it is easier with this. With the press service of Roskosmos, you can agree and they do not need to explain why it is needed.



Now they would have facilitated access to closed museums in enterprises, there are still many cosmic treasures in store there, and it is a sin to hide them from the people who ensured their creation.