WELCOME TO LIFE IN SPACE
This exhibition features over one hundred original objects provided by US SPACE ROCKET & CENTER, ESA, and ASI, including spacecraft, satellites, and spacesuits, allowing you to experience the adventure of humanity in space, a result of the courage and intelligence of scientists, technicians, and astronauts. Before exploring the exhibition area, which includes an interactive Space Camp area, we invite you to reflect on the visionary words of John Kennedy: “...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...”. These words, spoken on 12 September 1962, marked a change of perspective in the space race, which had been dominated by competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Kennedy also emphasized the importance of cooperation, stating that in space there are no national conflicts and that the conquest of space deserves the best of humanity. This spirit of cooperation led the United States to send men to the Moon in July 1969 and facilitated the docking of the Soviet Soyuz capsule with an Apollo spacecraft in July 1975, a symbolic moment of unity.
Today, the International Space Station represents the highest level of complexity and scientific cooperation ever achieved, built by the United States, Russia, the European Union, Canada, and Japan, and continuously inhabited by astronauts of various nationalities.
But how did we get here? Let’s find out together.
EMU - The Space Shuttle Space Suit
Well-known as an extravehicular mobility unit (EMU), this suit is used for space walks by astronauts on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. The suit incorporates fully autonomous life support (survival pack) and a communication system. It is like an individual spaceship. The EMU consists of several modular components, the rigid upper torso part (including the portable life support system), the lower torso part and gloves. Each individual element is available in different sizes and can be combined with others to achieve a tailored fit. The red stripes on the EMU are used by the mission control team to distinguish one space 'walker' from another. On the International Space Station the EMU and the Russian Orlan (sea eagle) suit are used for outdoor exits.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SPACE EXPLORATION
This exhibition takes you on a journey through the universe and highlights how space exploration has shaped our present. While we often envision astronauts floating among the stars, the impact of space exploration extends far beyond science and discovery. It drives innovation that enhances daily life on Earth.
Technologies developed for space missions have led to significant advancements that we now rely on:
- Powdered Milk: Revolutionized infant nutrition, originally designed for astronauts.
- Digital Thermometers: Created for monitoring astronauts’ health, now common in households.
- Lower Limb Prosthetics: Lightweight materials developed for space have improved prosthetic technology.
- Dermal Protective Sheets: Initially designed to shield astronauts, now used for treating burns and wounds.
- Firefighter Suits: Technology from space suits has been adapted to protect firefighters.
- Insulin Meters: Health monitoring tools from space missions have advanced portable diabetes management devices.
- Memory Foam: Designed for astronaut comfort, it is now widely used in mattresses and pillows.
- Solar Panels: Originally for powering space stations, they now provide clean energy in homes.
- Water Filters: Developed for recycling water in space, they are now used in regions with limited access to clean water.
This exhibition allows you to explore how space research, aimed at uncovering the universe's secrets, has improved our daily lives in unimaginable ways. Each invention on display tells a story of human ingenuity pushed to its limits by the challenges of space, resulting in solutions that accompany us in our everyday lives. Prepare to discover how life in space has enhanced life on Earth!
JULES VERNE - PARAPHRASES
Men on the Moon that it was a prophecy? Jules Verne's 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon describes a hypothetical journey to our satellite, anticipating by more than 100 years what actually happened on July 20, 1969. The book tells of a projectile with three people on board, which launched from a cannon, it manages to reach the moon. Verne's astronauts fail to land but remain in orbit around our satellite. In the novel, one of the characters pronounces these words “for those who don't see an inch beyond their nose, humanity should be condemned to vegetate on this globe, never being able to free itself from the interplanetary spaces. But it won't be like this!!! You will go to the moon, you will go to the planets, you will go to the stars, so simply when you can go from Liverpool to New York…” just over a century later man really landed on the moon.
JULES VERNE’S COLUMBIAD
Jules Verne, a popular science fiction writer, provided inspiration for many early rocketeers. From the Earth to the Moon, written in 1865, told the story of three men who launched from Earth in a cannon-like vehicle with the goal of landing on the Moon. Despite writing the book almost 100 years before humans accomplished this feat, many of Verne’s details appeared to foreshadow the future. Some of the book’s mission scenarios are similar to NASA’s Apollo program activities. The location of the launch, the size of the capsule to carry the crew, as well as approximate time to reach the Moon proved to be very close to reality.
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON - THE INFLUENCE OF FICTION
From the Earth to the Moon or (De la Terre à la Lune) by Jules Verne inspired generations, including many pioneers of early spaceflight. Published in 1865, the members of the book’s Baltimore Gun Club believe that a cannon could launch people in a projectile to the Moon. Verne’s story of the mission comes eerily close to real life. While the capsule launches successfully, what happens next is in the sequel Autour de la Lune or Around the Moon. This book is a first edition printed in the original French.
EARLY PIONEERS
Like all facets of current technology, astronautics has its origins and foundations in several "pioneers" who, from the knowledge of the time, developed the first possible theories and hypotheses, performed the experiments that would determine the possibility of space travel and opened the way for the scientific community, supported by the state research apparatus, to carry out the costly task of making human ingenuities, sometimes with people inside, abandon the atmosphere and the extremely serious nature of our planet. The first to propose in a scientific way various theories about interplanetary flight was the Russian Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935). Deaf since childhood, is a self-taught formed from the reading of how much scientific book fell into their hands. His is the idea that the ideal impeller for space travel is the rocket of liquid fuel, hydrogen and oxygen, for which he designed on paper different mixing systems, valves and ejection nozzles that have turned out to be very similar to those used in recent aerospace devices. Another of the great propellants of the design of the rocket was Werner Von Braun. Since childhood, Von Braun fell in love with the possibilities of space exploration through the novels of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells and also through the scientific works of Hermann Oberth. Robert Goddard launched the world’s first successful liquid propellant rocket. Prior to its development, rockets and missiles used solid or powder propellants similar to gunpowder. Goddard’s rocket, which he named Nell, reached an altitude of 41 feet (12.5 meters) and traveled 184 feet (56 meters) down range in a 2.5 second on March 16, 1926.
The prototype is on display here.
Length: 50.5 inches /128.27 cm
Maximum diameter: 6.7 inches / 17 cm
Boost: 9 lbs / 4.08 kg
AIRSHIP OF WAVY STEEL
1928 Russian Book by K. Tsiolkovsky, 1st Ed., Kaluga “Earth is the cradle of humanity but one cannot live in the cradle forever” taken from a letter written by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1911 Russian-born scientist and mathematician Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is often referred to as the father of astronautics and human spaceflight. His visionary ideas for the future of humanity in space were far ahead of his time. It is Tsiolkovsky who first determined that the escape velocity from the Earth into orbit was 8 km/second and that this could be achieved by using a multi-stage rocket fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. During his lifetime he published over 500 works on space travel and related subjects, including science fiction novels. Among his works are designs for the construction of space rockets and ideas for steerable rocket engines, multi-stage boosters, space stations, airlocks for exiting a spaceship into the vacuum of space, and closed cycle biological systems to provide food and oxygen for space colonies. This is a remarkable achievement by any standards, but particularly as many of these documents were written before the first aeroplane flight and, by a man who had had to abandon his formal education at the age of 10.
DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN
Dr. Wernher von Braun (1912–1977) was the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration in the twentieth century After reading Hermann Oberth’s Rocket into Interplanetary Space and receiving a telescope from his mother, von Braun decided to become a space pioneer and physicist. At the age of 13, von Braun got himself into trouble when he obtained six skyrockets, strapped them to a toy red wagon, and set them off. Streaming flames and a long trail of smoke, the wagon roared five blocks into the center of town, where the rockets then exploded. Known as “the father of space travel”. In 1937, he became Technical Director of the Rocket Center in Pennemunde, Germany and his team developed the V-2 rocket that von Braun envisioned for space travel not war. A liquid propellant missile 46 feet in length and weighing 27,000 pounds, the V-2 flew at speeds in excess of 3,500 miles per hour and delivered a 2,200-pound warhead to a target 200 miles away. First successfully launched in October 1942, it was employed against targets in Western Europe beginning in September 1944. In April 1960, he became director of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville for NASA. His team developed the Saturn V that launched Apollo 5 to travel to the moon in 1969. In 1970, von Braun became NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning in Washington. He helped found the National Space Institute in 1975 and served as its first president. During his lifetime Wernher von Braun had the good fortune to see his youthful dreams come true. But he did far more than dream. His hard work, dedication, and research paved the way for the peaceful exploration of space, landings on the moon, and the sending of inquisitive spacecraft out into the cosmos.
WERNHER VON BRAUN’S TELESCOPE
In 1925 his mother gave him his first telescope and he soon decided to devote his life to rocketry and the exploration of space.
WERNHER VON BRAUN’S CHILDHOOD NOTEBOOK
Inspiration changes lives. This replica of Wernher von Braun’s childhood notebook circa 1924 is filled with sketches, calculations for fuel, supplies and materials needed for a space journey. The illustrations with Russian notes are excerpts from a book by physicist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Considered the father of modern rocket science and astronautics, Tsiolkovsky, born in 1857, was the first to propose multi-stage rockets and liquid propellants. Notice the remarkable similarities between the two drawings.
THE VON BRAUN ROCKET WAGON
This little red wagon represents the dreams of a young missile pioneer. At age 12, Wernher von Braun, designer of the V-2 rocket, the propulsion genius behind the American moon- landing program, began his rocket experiments. Strapping six large fireworks to the sides of a wooden wagon, von Braun set off down a crowded Berlin Street. The young scientist started pedestrian on Tiergarten Strasse and knocked over fruit carts. Ultimately, the wagon was destroyed and the police took the young Wernher home.
V-2 ROCKET INJECTION VALVE FOR COMBUSTION CHAMBER - FIRST HUMAN OBJECT IN SPACE
German World War II V-2 rocket injection valve used in the combustion chamber.
The valve measures 0.75” by 0.75”, in very good condition with minor rust accumulation The V-2 rocket was the world’s first long-range ballistic missile that was developed by Wernher von Braun and his team during the Second World War in Nazi Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. Commonly referred to as the V-2 rocket, the liquid-propellant rocket was a combat-ballistic missile and the first known human object to enter outer space. It was the predecessor of all modern rockets, including those used by the United States and Soviet Union’s space programs.
SPUTNIK:
Starting line of the Space Race
With Sputnik, the "beep heard all over the world", the Soviets launched both the first space satellite and the space race with the United States. Carried aboard a Vostok-K rocket, Sputnik was able to teach scientists about the density of the atmosphere in the low earth orbit, as well as information on the ionosphere. The Sputnik was a polished sphere, 23 inches / 58 centimeters in diameter, with four external radio antennas to transmit radio pulses. Sputnik sent radio signals for 22 days and orbited around the Earth for three months after the October 4, 1957 Launch. The Americans reacted to Sputnik with curiosity and fear. This historical event accelerated the development of American space technology. One of the models used in the tests is displayed here.
LAIKA
and other creatures in space
The history of animals in space is curious. The Mongolfier brothers began in 1783 by putting a goose, a rooster and a sheep in the basket of a hot-air balloon. They flew for ten minutes and landed unharmed, two kilometres away. A few months later, on 21st November, the first humans, Pilatrev de Rozier and the Marquis d'Heraldes, were on board. The little dog Laika was the first animal to enter orbit and prove that a mammal can live weightlessly. It happened on 3rd November 1957. Unfortunately, Sputnik 2, which housed her, was not intended for re-entry. Belka and Strelka were luckier, they were launched on 19th August 1960 with Sputnik 5 and returned safe and sound after 18 orbits around the Earth.
YURI GAGARIN
Gagarin is best remembered by a generation of Russian for pronouncing "Poyekhali!" as his Vostok spacecraft lifted off the ground. The phrase can be translated as either "Let's Go!" or "We're Off!" and is now a regular part of the Russian lexicon. But his most famous sentence was: Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it! Colonel Yuri A. Gagarin was born on a collective farm in a region west of Moscow, Russia on March 9, 1934. His father was a carpenter. Yuri attended the local school for six years and continued his education at vocational and technical schools. Yuri Gagarin joined the Russian Air Force in 1955 and graduated with honors from the Soviet Air Force Academy in 1957. Soon afterward, he became a military fighter pilot. By 1959, he had been selected for cosmonaut training as part of the first group of USSR cosmonauts. Yuri Gagarin flew only one space mission. On April 12, 1961 he became the first human to orbit Earth. Gagarin's spacecraft, Vostok 1, circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour. The flight lasted 108 minutes. At the highest point, Gagarin was about 327 kilometers above Earth. Once in orbit, Yuri Gagarin had no control over his spacecraft. Vostok's reentry was controlled by a computer program sending radio commands to the space capsule. Although the controls were locked, a key had been placed in a sealed envelope in case an emergency situation made it necessary for Gagarin to take control. As was planned, Cosmonaut Gagarin ejected after reentry into Earth's atmosphere and landed by parachute. Colonel Yuri Gagarin died on March 27, 1968 when the MiG-15 he was piloting crashed near Moscow. At the time of his death, Yuri Gagarin was in training for a second space mission.
HIGH ALTITUDE FLIGHT SUIT VKK-6
The VKK-6M is the most common flight suit in Soviet times, as well as in the Russian Air Force. It is designed for long flights at high altitude. VKK stands for "vysotno-kompensiruyushchi kostyum" or altitude compensation suit. These suits served as a test of future spacesuits. The suit connects through the hoses to the connectors in the cockpit. There is no pressure control valve in the suit itself because everything is controlled from inside the cabin. This suit was used in the MIG-25R in 1965.
HIGH ALTITUDE FLIGHT SUIT BAKLAN
Prior to space flights, high-altitude flights were developed in which experimental airplanes brushed the stratosphere. It was military flights among which the spy planes stood out. Given the enormous altitude at which they flew, pressure maintenance suits were developed that were the precursors of the modern astronaut suit. As you can see, the Backan suit is very similar to the suit worn by Austrian adventurer Felix Baumgartner, who was the current parachute jump recordman. Despite the aesthetic difference, its construction principles are very similar. The Baklan full-pressure suit was developed by Zvezda for the crew of high altitude strategic aviation aircraft since 1970. Derived from Baklan full pressure suit is the Strizh that is a space suit that was originally developed for the crew of the Russian Buran space shuttle and resembled the Sokol space suit worn by Soyuz crew members. It was designed to protect cosmonauts during a possible ejection from the spacecraft at altitudes of up to 30 km and speeds of up to Mach 3 that is a dimensionless quantity representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound: M = u/c where: M is the Mach number, u is the local flow velocity with respect to the boundaries (either internal, such as an object immersed in the flow, or external, like a channel), and c is the speed of sound in the medium.
FIRST AMERICAN SATELLITE
Explorer 1
In response to the soviet’s Sputnik satellite achievement, the United States returned the launch volley with Explorer 1. Explorer 1 , carried by a Jupiter-C rocket on January 31, 1958, provided groundbreaking evidence of the existence of the Van Allen radiation belt which protects the Earth from harmful solar radiation. All three upper stages were housed within the barrel dizzying 750 revolution per minute. The success of Explorer 1 by the United States Army led to the formation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian organization dedicated to the exploration of space.
Height: 69.55 ft/21.2m
Mass: 64.200 lb/29.180 Kg
Maximum diameter: 5,84 in/1,78m
Thrust at launch: 83.000 lb/37.648 Kg
ANIMALS ON SPACE OTHER COUNTRIES
In 1959, the U.S. needed a Cold War win and the country was eyeing spaceflight. And so a pair of mismatched monkeys found themselves bundled up and placed in a Jupiter missile. Dubbed Able and Baker, they became the first primates to survive spaceflight during a suborbital predawn flight on May 28, 1959. Their survival made them instant celebrities, although spaceflight was not the most dramatic part of their stories. To announce their successful flight, NASA unveiled Able and Baker to journalists in the same room where just a month prior they had introduced the Mercury 7 as the country's first human astronaut candidates.
Here, Able, who was a squirrel monkey.
The only cats that flew into space in the 1960s were two French cats, one returned alive, the other died during the mission. After 2000, Iran also carried out experiments by using animals, mainly monkeys, to be launched into space. In 2013 a monkey, probably a macaque, was the protagonist of a flight that ended with the return of the animal, still alive,from space. Over the years, there has been increasing criticism from animal activists who consider the use of unconscious animals for space experiments obsolete and unnecessarily cruel.
AMERICA’S FIRST SPACECRAFT
The Mercury spacecraft is the United States’ first human space flight vehicle. Mercury launched in 1959 and continued in use until 1963. With no computers, all on-board systems were operated by mechanical timers or by the single astronaut pilot. Both Mercury-Redstone and Mercury-Atlas rockets launched this capsule, carrying astronauts to suborbital and orbital fl ights. Astronauts could be no taller than 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 meters). Space was so restricted, designers had to mold seats to fi t astronauts’ bodies.
Height: 11 ft, 4 in/345.4 cm
Mass: 3,000 lb /1360.8 kg
Maximum diameter: 74 in /188 cm
Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and return him safely.
MAN IN A CAN
Glenn’s capsule was called “ Friendship 7 “, to continue a tradition of naming Mercury Spacecraft with the number for good luck. Starting in 1958, the Mercury capsule was developed to be America’s first spacecraft.
It was designed to be as lightweight as possible so that it could be lifted into orbit by available military missiles.
The Astronaut wears a variation of the high altitude pressure suit used by navy pilots.
ROOM FOR ONE, NO BAGGAGE
Glenn’s tiny pressurized capsule was his home for the flight’s five-hour duration.
Straps held him into the countered couch designed specially for his body.
ASTRONAUT QUOTE:
FIX YOUR LITTLE PROBLEM AND LIGHT THIS CANDLE
ALAN SHEPPARD
He became famous for being the first American in space with the Mercury Redstone 3 capsule (nicknamed Freedom 7) on 5.5.1961. He was also famous for being a crazy person. At the time of its launch, in fact, counting all the previous attempts with the Redstones, the statistics spoke of a 58% of failures. Now, not all of the rockets had exploded, or not immediately: some had gone off course and were detonated for safety, for example. Others had only half worked. However, if you want to go into space and the rocket takes off in the wrong direction, it's not like you're in good shape, so to speak.
Sheppard however, to make you understand the character, wanted to leave immediately after HAM. It was Von Brauna who wanted to make a test launch with a perfectly ready but unmanned Mercury spacecraft, given the statistics available. It was this precaution that allowed the Soviets to beat the Americans to the punch. Even if, I remind you, the Russians managed to make their cosmonaut (who was he? Ask the visitors if they were paying attention) a full circle around the earth, therefore a feat with an incredibly greater coefficient of difficulty. But Sheppard didn't think about the rocket explosions. At best, his doubt was that he was the one doing something wrong during the flight. Flight in which, to be honest, he didn't have to carry out what series of operations, given that it was supposed to last 15 minutes in all. Nonetheless, it seems that his words, at the launch, were "Please, dear God, do not let me fuck up". We would translate it with a colorful “Please, dear Lord, don't let me screw it up”.
This elegant phrase is still known among aviators today as the "Sheppard Prayer".
In reality, there was still some problems. Feel a little.
Sheppard entered the spacecraft at 5.15am, just over two hours before the scheduled launch time of 7.20am.
He had eaten a healthy breakfast: steak, eggs, toast, coffee and orange juice. The BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS, in short, which will become a tradition among astronauts (very superstitious people). However, at a certain point, while waiting for the launch, he began to feel a stimulus. He radioed it to Goddard Space Flight Center.
"Guys, I'm peeing"
"good to know"
The answer was not too conciliatory. None of the technicians had foreseen the eventuality, the flight would have been short and Alan, like a good boy, hadn't peed before leaving the house. He just had to resist, there was no more time. At 7.05 in the morning, 15 minutes from time X, the launch was however postponed to allow the passage of some clouds, because good visibility was essential to take photographs of the earth. "Um .... I'm running away" "You keep it, the journey is very short"
The clouds passed, but the launch was postponed again, to fix the feeder better
"Boys…?"
"Think you are in the desert"
They didn't want to be mean, it's that to make him go to the bathroom they would have had to set up the clean room, i.e. the clean and controlled environment, as well as wasting a lot of time opening the tailgate of the Mercury. Sheppard had to wait. The flight would not last long anyway. Having fixed the power supply, he resumed the countdown. To then stop it immediately after: you have to restart a computer from the Flight Center.
"Guys, stop, I'll pee myself"
Panic at the Flight Center. Not for hygienic reasons, eh, that mattered little to everyone. The problem is that urine is basically water, and water isn't ideal if you want to avoid short circuits. For example, those of the medical electrodes fixed on the astronaut's body. Sheppard, however, would not listen to reason. He said turn off the power to the electrodes and wet himself..
But since he was lying on his stomach, the liquid went up his back, up to his shoulders….blahhhh…Sheppard's response to the concerns of the control room was that at least, now, he was warm (laughter). Luckily the oxygen flowing through the suit dried everything out, and the countdown started again. At 9.34 the rocket detached from the ground, sending Freedom 7 and the unconscious astronaut into space. We will see it later, but our Sheppard in space will return to it a second time, or rather, go to the moon. Apollo 14 mission, famous because it was the first and only one in which an astronaut brought a club to play golf during the moon landing. I'll let you guess who the genius came up with. The two balls hurled with reduced gravity still lie there, lost among the craters of the Moon.
