Space museum launched by Britain's first astronaut

Britain's first astronaut Helen Sharman cuts a red ribbon at the John Dulcamara Space Flight Museum at Grizedale Observatory. Helen is stood in a line with a number of young school children, John Dulcamara who donated the exhibition, and Gary Fildes, the Observatory director.

Image caption,

Britain's first astronaut Helen Sharman officially opened the John Dulcamara Space Flight Museum at Grizedale Observatory

ByHannah Mitchell, North East and Cumbria and Jennie Dennett, BBC Radio Cumbria

Published11 minutes ago

A new space flight museum has been opened at a Lake District observatory.

Britain's first astronaut Helen Sharman visited Grizedale Observatory and Planetarium on Friday to officially open the John Dulcamara Space Flight Museum.

The collection was donated by private collector John Dulcamara and includes a piece of the command module from the 1969 Apollo 11 - the first manned mission to land on the moon.

Sharman said the collection was "extraordinary".

Grizedale Observatory near Ambleside, Cumbria, opened in May 2024, offering public access to telescopes, a planetarium and meteorite laboratory, as well as staging a dark skies festival and other events.

A display case containing space flight memorabilia and artefacts. On the walls around the case are framed photos of astronauts and artefacts.

Image source, Grizedale Observatory & PlanetariumImage caption,

The collection includes a piece of the command module from the 1969 Apollo 11 space flight

Sharman, who became the first British person to visit space in 1991, said: "It's an extraordinary collection. We've got bits of Apollo 11, bits from the Russian space programme - it's just an amazing collection of artefacts from space flight history.

"It tells its own story of space history, but also of the people that went and the items that were important to them.

"For it to be on show now in this beautiful way, as part of Grizedale Observatory, what a coup for Cumbria."

The museum contains a variety of pieces ranging from autographed photos and signatures of prominent people in space flight to parts of actual space craft.

Dulcamara said he first started collecting the artefacts after he attended a shuttle launch in 1996 and kept the ticket.

"That's what started my 30 year collection off," he said. "There's thousands of pieces on display, I hope people will come and have a look."

'Failure not an option'

Observatory director Gary Fildes said that the collection presented some "fascinating stories".

"John asked whether we would be interested in keeping his collection here at the observatory so other people could have the chance to see it. He brought a few samples along and we knew we had to make it happen.

"We thought: 'failure is not an option'!"

During her visit, Sharman met with local schoolchildren to talk about her time aboard the Mir Space Station, where she carried out scientific experiments and observations of Earth.

"To have Helen opening the museum is incredibly special," Fildes said. "What makes this particularly important to us is the opportunity for local children to meet Helen.

"You simply don't know where an experience like that might lead."

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