National Space Centre, Leicester

Lets start with the history…

The idea of the space centre was first thought of by The University of Leicester in 1997. The idea was then put to the Millennium Commission for funds, which agreed to support the idea as a Landmark Millennium Project for the East Midlands…
In 1998 the planning began. The land it now stands on was once a disused Severn Trent Water storm tank just north of the City Centre.
The building of the Space Centre began in 1999. The land was cleared and construction began.
Next in 2000 the construction began on the Rocket tower, which now houses two huge rockets! Oh and in case you were wondering, the inflatable look is from the sections of hi-tech polythene…
The Space Centre was finally ready to be opened in 2001… with a launch date of late June. The Space Centre was opened, by none other that Jeff Hoffman s of (NASA Astronaut) and became an instant crowd-puller.
In 2002 Her Majesty the Queen visited along with the Duke of Edinburgh…

Over 300,000 people were said to have visited in the first 12months alone!!!

Anyway… my visit to the space centre sounds a little more exciting than that!!

Deciding to make a day of it I grabbed the camera and made my way to the centre. If you are planning to visit the Space Centre you don’t need to get there very early, I did (10:30) and I was exhausted by 2pm!! Whichever way you travel there look up as u arrive as the Rocket Tower is a sight to be seen. Yes it may look a little strange at first but look closely and you can see the two big rockets inside!!

When we got into the space centre we were treated to a free screening in the Space Theatre called BIG (of which you can view a trailer of on the Space Centre website) this lasts about 20minutes but is well worth it. The Space Theatre is basically like a planetarium; you watch the show on the domed ceiling. (You may feel a bit dizzy at times but KEEP WATCHING) After this is finished you are free to explore the centre!

There are lots of activities to do… regardless of your age, these include reaction and stress testing, gravity activities (the Baked Bean challenge) and a Weather Studio… much fun is to be had there!! (Look out for hidden tunnels around the exhibits)

Perhaps the highlight of the whole day was making our way up to the Rocket Tower. With lots of interactive things on the way up you tend not to pay much attention to the 2 huge rockets. But look up, and then down… and you get to see how big they really are!!

I’d recommend a day out to the Space Centre. You don’t even have to be THAT interested in space-type things to have a fun day out there!! Check out the photos to see some of the things to be seen there…