Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age at The Science Museum

Konstantin Yuon’s ‘New Planet’ painting, 1921

Huttlepod for the “flying city” by Georgii Krutikov

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s first space rocket design

Sergei Korolev, Chief Designer of the Soviet space programme

Sputnik, beep...beep...beep… The Soviet space race

Solar cell panel from Sputnik 3. The Soviet space race

Luna 9, launch date 1966. The Soviet space race

Luna 16, launch date 1970. The Soviet space race

Sputnik 3, launch date 1958. The Soviet space race

Space dogs story, 1957. The Soviet space race

Space dog space suit. The Soviet space race

Fitted hold and helmet for a space dog. The Soviet space race

Astronaut’s chair. The Soviet space race

Space rocket technical equipment. The Soviet space race

The story of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. The Soviet space race

Valentina Tereshkova. The Soviet space race

Vostok 6 and Voskhod 1. The Soviet space race

Interior of the Voskhod 1. The Soviet space race

Soviet propaganda space poster. The Soviet space race

Alexei Leonov painting. The Soviet space race

Cosmonauts statue. The Soviet space race

LK-3 Lunar Lander. The Soviet space race

LK-3 Lunar Lander and Lunokhod 1. The Soviet space race

Salyut 1 space station. The Soviet space race

Cosmonauts space equipment. The Soviet space race

Pressure trousers. The Soviet space race

Cosmonaut pressure tank. The Soviet space race

Space chair for a cosmonaut. The Soviet space race

@ The Science Museum

Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age

Liked the photos?

With the advent of the first British ESA astronaut to set foot in space, Tim Peake, there’s never been a better time to tell the space story from it’s beginning days and that’s just what the Science Museum new exhibition has done. I’ve always heard about America boasting about their great conquests but I didn’t know that Russia had already accomplished so much in getting out the atmosphere ~ the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik in 1957, the first dogs to survive a space flight in 1951, the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin in 1961 (in an incredibly small pod device your see in the photos) and the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova 1963, then a three manned pod in 1964 and in 1965 Alexei Leonov was the first person to walk in space for 12 minutes.

All this before man went to the Moon in 1969 by the Americans Apollo 11, without Russia’s vital contribution I don’t think any country would have achieved what they have in space history today. Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age is on at the Science Museum until 13th March 2016 and although it’s a ticketed event, £12.60, it’s worth seeing these historic space items in the flesh, and whilst walking around the exhibition you get a genuine feeling of actually how tiny we all are in this place they call the universe!