Museum of Cosmonautics

The starting point in the museum's history was the construction of the Monument to Conquerors of Space on the Alley of Cosmonauts at VDNH in 1964. The idea to place the museum in the stylobate (base) of this monument belonged to Sergei Pavlovich Korolev—the chief designer of rocket and space systems for the USSR. He saw it not only as a way to preserve the memory of the breakthrough but also as an important tool for popularizing science. Initially, the museum occupied relatively small space (about 3200 m²), including exhibition halls, a cinema hall, vestibule, and storage areas. In 2006–2009, the museum underwent a large-scale reconstruction aimed at transforming the space into a modern interactive complex. As a result, the museum's area increased to 8000 m², with the exhibition space expanding to 3720 m². Today, the museum’s collections include over 105 thousand items. The permanent exposition features authentic samples of rocket and space technology (for example, full-scale models of MIR station fragments, Soyuz spacecraft, automatic interplanetary stations like Luna-16 or Venera-4), working and personal belongings of cosmonauts (Yuri Gagarin's and Alexei Leonov's spacesuits, sports equipment for orbital training, water distribution systems), archival documents, philately, numismatics, as well as artworks inspired by the space theme (paintings, graphics). Among unique artifacts are Yuri Gagarin’s electrocardiogram taken during pre-flight examination, stuffed dogs Belka and Strelka with an authentic ejectable container in which they returned to Earth, fragments of the N-1 rocket, lunar soil samples delivered by Luna-16 station. Meanwhile, a significant part of the collection remains in storage and is displayed in thematic temporary exhibitions.

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