posted 05-09-2024 12:17 PM
I thought visitors to collectSPACE might like to read about The Space Vault Exhibition currently on its inaugural run for six months at the European Space Agency, near Oxford, England. The Exhibition tells eleven stories of human spaceflight 'above the Earth and to the Moon', told through a collection of artifacts from the Apollo, Soviet era and Space Shuttle programs, to the International Space Station and SpaceX, including objects brought back to Earth from the lunar surface, low-Earth orbit and outer space (as different from deep space).
More on the Exhibition is at thespacevault.org including a short virtual tour. The Exhibition at ESA has received visiting employees from around 30 UK space-related firms and organisations who form the 'UK Space-Cluster' on Harwell Technology and Science Campus near Oxford, and is where the ESA/ECSAT establishment is located.
On 1st July the Exhibition moves location and goes public at the Henley-on-Thames museum in south Oxfordshire, after which it will begin a five year tour of UK and Europe (and may even find its way to the US East Coast).
The collection from which the Exhibition is drawn is growing with new artifacts being able to be added to the displays along the way. Events, including TED-style Talks, guest collections, and Movie nights, accompany the Exhibition. The final event at ESA on 21st June is a Talk & Movie night built around artifacts in the Exhibition from Soviet era Space Stations, accompanied by a showing of the film Salyut 7.