100 years before mankind made it to
the Moon, the famous French Sci-Fi writer Jules Verne in 1865 had published his
inspired novel ‘From the Earth to the Moon’, describing the adventure of three men
who landed on the Moon in a projectile shot from a cannon.
Today this is just one of the
stories people are recollecting while visiting the Space Adventure exhibition
open in Bucharest. One of the exhibition’s dark rooms houses a simulator, where
visitors can see what a real space flight is like, and what astronauts actually
see through the windows of a space shuttle.
Visitors embarking on such a
virtual journey to outer space by means of the aforementioned exhibition can
admire a replica of the projectile described in Jules Verne’s novel or a series
of images from the movies inspired by his books because as the exhibition shows
there are a lot of similarities between Jules Verne’s books and NASA’s Apollo programmes. While visiting the
exhibition one may learn about the pioneers of space exploration, be they
scientists, such as Herman Oberth and Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky or writers like
HG Wells.
The Russian scientist was the first
to come up with the idea that the best vehicle for space exploration would be a
multi-stage rocket fueled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen. Von Braun’s ferry
rocket is one of the numerous exhibits on view at Space Adventure where the
Apollo Moon landing takes pride of place. Visitors simply cannot take their
eyes from the amazing collections with hundreds of objects belonging to the US
Space and Rocket Center, which were used or brought back by various NASA
missions.
There are on view moon rocks, space
suits as well as accurate replicas of the rockets and space capsules and modules.
There are also humorous aspects to this exhibition, illustrated by a club,
Apollo 14 Commander Alan Shepard used to hit two golf balls on the surface of
the Moon. The exhibition includes a special area for those who may want to put
on a space suit, or see for themselves what life in an astronaut training camp
is like or how one can fly a space shuttle. Nicolae Cioca took his two
grandsons to the exhibition.
Nicolae Cioca: They saw the
commercial on TV, saw the posters in the street and begged me to bring them
here. Both are space enthusiasts and want to see the exhibition again. They are
in the flight simulator right now. Of course I recommend the exhibition as I
haven’t seen anything like this before.
Alina Savu was in charge of the
space flight simulator a place, which makes the delight of all the children
visiting the Space Adventure exhibition.
Alina Savu: I am going to
present the 5D simulator, a zero-gravity simulator meant to show the little
ones how difficult a space mission can be and also to feel how the human body
is floating in space. We also have the Multi Axis Trainer, which simulates the
experience that astronauts may have when they lose control of the spaceship
while leaving the atmosphere. There is also a fighter plane simulator, which
can also simulate a dogfight and since these simulators are connected, kids can
compete with each other. The VR simulators that we have here, can create via
virtual reality, a space journey from take off to landing. Here kids can see
stars, planets a nebula, and even a black hole.
We asked Alina Savu how visitors
react after a simulator ride.
Alina Savu: Most of them are
very delighted. They are curious and eager to try everything, even the little
ones; the five-year olds, for instance would like to try the Multi Axis
Trainer. Children have a positive reaction about every simulator and so have
their parents!
For many of us, Space Adventure -
an exhibition whose personnel is dressed like the future astronauts currently
training at Space and Rocket Center – is an event definitely worth seeing.
(translated by bill)