Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow

Description

The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics or Memorial Museum of Space Exploration) is a museum in Moscow, Russia, dedicated to space exploration. It is located within the base of the Monument to the Conquerors of Space in the north-east of the city. The museum contains a wide variety of Soviet and Russian space-related exhibits and models which explore the history of flight; astronomy; space exploration; space technology; and space in the arts. According to the Russian tourist board, the museum's collection holds approximately 85,000 different items, primarily from the Soviet period, and receives approximately 300,000 visitors yearly.

History

Though the space monument's tower was erected in 1964, the memorial museum did not exist for another seventeen years. Opening ceremonies took place on April 10, 1981, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the day Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth in space.

The museum primarily focuses on the Soviet space program with major themes like Gagarin, Sergey Korolyov, Sputnik and Soyuz.

Renovation

On Cosmonautics Day, 2009, the museum was reopened after three years of reconstruction. It has virtually tripled its original size and has added new sections dedicated to space programs worldwide, including the USA, Europe, China and the ISS. The museum now features original interactive exhibits, as well as a refurbished promenade, the sculpture-lined Cosmonauts Alley which connects the museum to the Moscow metro. The museum is a favourite of students worldwide and a primary tourist attraction of the city.

Exhibits

Soviet Krechet spacesuit.
Rocket propulsion units, RD-214.
Space capsule used by Yuri Gagarin.
Soviet moonrover Lunokhod (Луноход).
Crew manual from Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (1974), in Russian and English.
Poster art of the Soviet space program.
A piece of regolith from Apollo 11 presented to the Soviet Union.

Source

Street view

Google panorama

Reviews

12.10.2021 Rohadani

Excellent insight in (Russian) history of space exploration, with lots of exhibits and details. Well organized and modern, it's a very exciting to walk through many items that returned from space, accessories and less known pieces of information. Could be more explications in English, for foreign visitors, I was lucky knowing some Russian and fill up some gaps.

12.10.2021 Anand

Great place to visit if you are interested in science. Visit with people with similar interests otherwise they will force you to come outside of the museum.
Place has very good collection placed in chronological order elaborating development of USSR and subsequently Russian and space program. Tickets are cheap and do purchase a audio guide available at the ticket counter (carry headphones).

11.10.2021 Aleksei

To touch the real earth satellites and to go inside the "Union". Sorry for the exposition of the meteorites removed.

11.10.2021 Dmitriy

Excellent exposure, good tours for children. A lot of original exhibits. The whole history of Soviet and Russian spaceflight from Tsiolkovsky to our days

11.10.2021 Sergei

The Museum is not very big. Judging from my own experience, it is better to go with a guide.
Without it I was bored.

11.10.2021 Andrey

Security zero! The people passed without inspection! To the question: can You show the bag?? you wave a hand and say come on in and respectively carry what you want!! Children come in crowds and the security turns out not!!! The Museum itself is of course very good!

11.10.2021 Simon

Being a massive fan of aviation and engineering I was really looking forward to visiting this museum. My overall impression was that I wasn't quite as impressed as I thought I would be. Alot of replicas rather than the real thing. Having said that they do have the actual capsule and suite that Gagarin went up in. Lots of other bits and pieces like space gloves, suits, pieces of asteroids etc.

Being honest the most impressive thing about this museum is the sculpture outside. A 400ft high solid Titanium representation of a rocket taking off. Seriously seriously impressive and you can see if from a couple of miles away as you approach. One of the highlights of my trip to Moscow was seeing this sculpture.

Just a couple of things to take note of. The vast majority of text explanations of the exhibits are in Russian only. Also you are not allow to take photos of the exhibits unless you pay an extra 200 roubles on top of your entry fee.

There is a full size replica of the Mir which you can walk inside. Pretty good but a bit cheap and "plasticy" which takes away from the authentic feel a little.

Finally this is quite far out from the centre but is right beside a Metro stop. Again there is no English in the Metro so you'll need to research the metro before you go if you don't speak Russian, or be with someone who does speak / read Russian.

11.10.2021 Matt

This is right by VDNKh. Everything in Russia is BIG. This is a great place to take photos along with the many places to stop by in the park.

There is also a lot of street food in VDNKh, hot dogs to hot chestnuts and corn. During the summer more of the cafes are open.

11.10.2021 Danilo

Beautiful garden with statues of iconic figures from the exploration of space. The obelisk is gorgeous. Visits are allowed inside the big monument, within you can find many items and facts about that era.

11.10.2021 Tim

Although not everything was translated into English, it's worth a visit because of the real historic equipment. Too bad we only had two hours in there, we could have easily spent 4.

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