One of the highlights of my trip to Moscow was a visit to the Museum of Cosmonautics, the Музей космонавтики.
It is easy to find, as it is placed underneath the Memorial to the Conquerors of Space (Монумент «Покорителям космоса»), a monument of 107 meters height, inaugurated in 1964 to celebrate the Soviet achievements in space travel.
Underneath this impressive monument made of Titanium you find the most amazing collection of memorabilia of the many space trips by the Soviet Union and today's Russian Federation.
The museum has more than 300,000 visitors per year. Its collection holds about 85,000 different items. I especially like the space suits.
This is the legendary Sputnik (Спутник), the first man-made object in space. It was launched in October 1957 and caused the so called 'Sputnik shock'. The US Americans had to learn that they were not as technologically superior to the Soviet Union as they thought.
Before sending Juri Gagarin (Юрий Гагарин) as the first man to space, the Soviet tested the security of their space ships with animals. The first dog, Laika (Лайка), died in space. These are Belka (Белка) and Strelka (Стрелка), he first living beings to return safely from their space trip.
This is the moon rover Lunochod (Луноход), the first vehicle to drive on the moon in November 1970.
The Soviets were the first ones in many things, like launching a satellite and sending a man to space. But they lost the "Race for the Moon" to the US Americans, who made the first manned moon landing in July 1969. So the Soviets finally cancelled their lunar landing programme, for which this vehicle was designed.
Instead, they focussed on the manned space station Mir (Мир) and the International Space Station ISS, which they still operate in cooperation with the US Nasa, the European ESA and other space agencies.
This is food for Cosmonauts.
And this is a Cosmonaut toilet that works without gravity.
I like the fact that Russian, Americans and other nations now cooperate in exploring space, and that the silly "Space Race" of the cold war area is over.
Here is a video shot by commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.
When I grow up, I want to be a cosmonaut!
