What is the St. Petersburg Museum of Cosmonautics? Its exposition is dedicated to the history of Russian space and rocket technology. Here you can learn about the role played by St. Petersburg engineers, scientists, designers in the development of technology and science.
History of Appearance
The Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology named after P. Glushko appeared in the premises of the right side of the Ioannovsky Ravelin. Here in the thirties of the twentieth century there was a department of the Gas Dynamics Laboratory. It became the first experimental and design organization in which the development of innovative rocket engines for that time was carried out.
It was this Gas Dynamic Laboratory that became the place to place test benches for liquid and electrical elements of aircraft.
Head
He was in charge of this specialized base in the Peter and Paul Fortress Valentin Glushko. The museum has a reconstruction of his office, workshop. There are also photographs and documents that are related to direct activities.laboratories.
This man has made a huge contribution to the development of domestic astronautics. Therefore, while getting to know his office, the guide necessarily tells the main stages of his life, professional activity, so that visitors can appreciate the scale of this legendary personality.
Exposures
What attracts numerous guests to the Museum of Cosmonautics of St. Petersburg? Here you can get acquainted with the unique developments of designers:
- see the smokeless powder rockets that became the base for the BM-13 mortar launchers;
- fluid models;
- stepped engines of modern rockets.
At present, the St. Petersburg Museum of Cosmonautics in its halls demonstrates to visitors models of the satellite that was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. In addition, the exhibition has a sample of the Vostok spacecraft, on which Yuri Gagarin made the first manned trip into space on April 12, 1961.
Among those exhibits that the St. Petersburg Museum of Cosmonautics is rightly proud of, we note the descent module of the Soyuz-16 spacecraft. What is he famous for? He traveled to outer space, then returned to our planet in December 1974.
What other unique space exhibits does the Peter and Paul Fortress hide within its walls? St. Petersburg has always been considered a scientific center. Therefore, it was quite natural to create a museum of astronautics here.
Interesting museum exhibits
In modernThe exhibit has a mock-up of the International Space Station. Made on a scale of 1 to 50, it presents visitors with a variant of a manned orbital station. It is used as a multipurpose space research laboratory.
The deployment of the ISS in near-Earth orbit began with the launch of the Zarya functional cargo block in November 1998.
The construction of the ISS in orbit is carried out with the sequential addition of the next module to the complex. At present, such a multi-purpose space research station is a joint project involving Japanese, Russian, Canadian, American, European countries.
This spring, the exposition of the Museum of Cosmonautics was supplemented with models of a hygiene room and a dining area in the Zvezda service module of the Russian part of the ISS. What else can you see? At the entrance to the museum is the descent module of the Comet satellite, which traveled into space at the end of the last century.
Opening hours of the Cosmonautics Museum
You can get to the museum on any day of the week from 11:00 to 18:00, except Wednesday. On Tuesday visitors are invited until 17:00.
For groups of 10 to 25 people, you can order excursion services, having previously agreed on the time and duration of the excursion with the museum administration.
Why do St. Petersburg residents and guests of the northern capital want to get to the St. Petersburg Museum of Cosmonautics? Reviews indicate that it is here that there are not only excellent expositions, but alsoan opportunity to develop interest in astronautics among the younger generation. For example, museum staff have developed special educational programs:
- Space Friends.
- "The space age of the northern capital".
Children of junior and middle classes will not only get acquainted with interesting celestial objects, but also a master class on making aliens and astronauts.
In closing
Why is the Peter and Paul Fortress directly related to space? Here the development and testing of the first rocket engines took place, designers and engineers worked, whose names are inscribed in the history of Russian cosmonautics.
At the end of the twenties of the last century, N. I. Tikhomirov created a laboratory for the study of jet engines at the main artillery department in Moscow, but just a few years later it was moved to Leningrad, became known as the Gas Dynamic Laboratory, and was sheltered by the Peter and Paul Fortress. St. Petersburg is proud that it was here that research was carried out. Aircraft powder boosters and rocket liquid fuel engines were developed here.
The level of development of technology by the thirties of the last century did not allow engineers to create a truly efficient ERL, to develop a small power plant for it.
All stages of work are presented in modern expositions of the Museum of Cosmonautics. All of them are available to visitors. In the exhibition halls of the museum there are alwaysinquisitive schoolchildren and adults who dream of learning more about Russian astronautics.
