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1 Thor Able is a US Air Force space launch vehicle. Its payloads were the first of Nasa’s long series of Pioneer deep-space probes. Thor Able’s descendant, the Delta 7000, was still flying in the 21st century and was the most reliable and economical launch vehicle produced in the US.

2 Blue Streak was adapted for use as the first stage of Europe’s first satellite-launching programme, Europa, in the 1960s. It flew for the first time in Australia in 1964 and 11 Blue Streaks were launched, all successfully, before Europa experienced problems and Britain pulled out. The Blue Streak programme was cancelled in 1971. The National Space Centre’s Blue Streak rocket was the last of 15 built. When the programme was cancelled, World Museums, Liverpool, saved it but for the past 29 years it has largely been hidden from public view. The National Space Centre has been working with World Museums, Liverpool, to get it on permanent display since 1998. The rocket is incredibly fragile despite its appearance, and this is the first time that a Blue Streak rocket, has been displayed in an upright position, showing what it would have looked like on the launch pad. It has been loaned to the Space Centre from National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside (World Museums Liverpool).

3 Skylark is a scientific “sounding rocket”. (Sounding is a nautical term for measuring.) Not big enough to put a satellite into orbit, it launches experimental payloads on a parabolic flight path – the load experiencing a few minutes of weightlessness at the peak of its flight. The first Skylark was launched in 1957, the last in 2002, making it the longest-running launch programme. Skylark (right) is orange because the rockets are often launched over snowy lands, and the colour aids recovery.

4 Beagle 2, named after HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin’s ship, should have reached the surface of Mars on Christmas Day 2003 after a six-month voyage aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft. The University of Leicester Space Research Group led the development of the suite of instruments at the end of the robotic arm, known as the PAW. The team also led the flight operations development and helped to lead the technical design of the Beagle 2 probe

5 Sputnik Take a trip to the top of the National Space Centre’s Rocket Tower and you will discover the grandfather of space exploration, Sputnik 1. This is a full scale model of the craft, made by the Russian Fabrication Company and based on the original designs. Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The world’s first artificial satellite was about the size of a basketball, weighed only 83kg (183lb), and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth

6 Giotto, the European Space Agency’s first deep-space mission, was designed to help to solve the mysteries of Halley’s Comet by passing as close as possible to its nucleus – a feat achieved on March 13, 1986. No one expected the craft to survive its battering from comet dust, but most of its instruments remained operational. The mission was extended to allow an encounter with a second comet, Grigg-Skjellerup. A full-size model of Giotto (above) is on display at the top of the rocket tower. The dish at the back transmitted to Earth while the instruments at the front made measurements. The front was made of special shielding to protect the craft from bits of dust from the comet, which travelled so fast that they exploded on impact. Giotto’s circular shape allowed it to spin, keeping it stable and pointing in the same direction.

7 Apollo-Soyuz After the rivalry of the 1960s space race, the 1970s saw a new spirit of cooperation and the Apollo-Soyuz project was the first human spaceflight mission managed jointly by two nations. The Soyuz capsule on display has a docking port to allow internal transfer between the Russian and American craft. The mission began with the Soyuz launch in July 1975, followed by the Apollo launch seven hours later. The docking in space of the two spacecraft took place at 2.17pm, US central time on July 17

8 Helen Sharman launch couch This couch was used by Helen Sharman, the first Briton in space, during her mission to the Mir space station in May 1991. The suit and couch illustrate conditions for crew members during launch and landing. The launch couch was used on four missions aboard Soyuz craft and therefore is the most flown object at the National Space Centre. Helen beat more than 13,000 applicants to be selected as one of the final four candidates for the position of UK cosmonaut on the Soviet space mission, Project Junoman

9 Orlan Spacesuit (technically, the Orlan DMA Russian Extravehicular Activity spacesuit) has a solid aluminium torso with soft arms and legs and an entry-hatch backpack. The semi-rigid suit (below right) was first worn for a spacewalk on December 20, 1977 by Yuri Romanenko and Georgy Grechko, the crew of the Salyut6 space station. Orlan spacesuits have been part of flight hardware on the Salyut and Mir Space Stations and the International Space Station ever since. This suit was used from 1987-89 for training on missions from the Mir space station.

10 Columbus Module is ESA’s main contribution to the International Space Station. A full-scale replica occupies a large part of the Into Space gallery, showing what it is like to live in orbit. The 4.5m-diameter (14ft 8in) cylindrical module is still awaiting launch and is scheduled to fly in December. It has flexible research facilities, offering extensive science capabilities. Outside its pressurised hull, Columbus has four mounting points for external payloads. During its 10-year projected lifespan, Earth-based researchers, together with the ISS crew, will conduct thousands of experiments in life sciences, material science, fluid physics and a host of other disciplines. The Biolab supports experiments on microorganisms, cells and tissue cultures, and even small plants and insects. Another rack contains the European Physiology Modules Facility (EPM), a set of experiments investigating the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. Experiments will also contribute to the understanding of age-related bone loss, balance disorders and other ailments. The Material Science Laboratory Electromagnetic Levitator (MSL-EML) is for the melting and solidification of conductive metals, alloys or semi-conductors and a Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL) will accommodate experiments in the behaviour of weightless liquids, that could have far-reaching benefits, such as better ways to clean up oil spills and improvements in optical lenses.

11 Space toilet for MIR Space Station Cosmonauts in space have the same hygiene needs as people on Earth. They wash their hair, brush their teeth, shave and go to the bathroom. But because of the weightless environment, they must use different methods to take care of themselves. There is only one tiny bathroom, containing a urinal, an odour bacteria filter and a vacuum vent. The urinal has a flexible hose with attachable funnels. Each cosmonaut has a personal funnel, shaped differently for men and women. The zero-gravity toilet uses airflow to carry waste away from the body.

12 The International Ultraviolet Explorer was an astronomical observatory satellite designed to obtain ultraviolet spectra. A collaborative project between Nasa, the UK Science Research Council and the European Space Agency (ESA), it was proposed in 1964 by a group of British scientists, and launched on January 26, 1978 aboard a Nasa Delta rocket. The mission lifetime was initially three years, but it far exceeded the expectations of astronomers and engineers, and was the longest-lived astronomical satellite when it was switched off in 1996 for budgetary reasons – it was still functioning at near its original efficiency. Astronomers made more than 104,000 observations with it, including planets, comets, stars, interstellar gas, supernovae, planetary aurorae, galaxies, and quasars. IUE dramatically changed astronomers’ view of the Universe.

13 The Hubble Space Telescope is named after the astronomer Edwin P. Hubble. A large, space-based observatory, it has revolutionised astronomy by providing deep and clear views of the Universe, ranging from images within our own Solar System, to remote galaxies forming not long after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. Hubble is located about 600km (375 miles) above the Earth and completes one orbit (crossing over the same longitude line) every 97 minutes at a speed of around 8km per second (5 miles per second). At times it can be seen with the naked eye.

14 Moon rock When Man first walked on the surface of the moon in the late Sixties, astronomers and geologists alike were fascinated to examine the first samples of moon rock brought back by the Apollo crews. The sample at the Space Centre was collected by Apollo 17, the last mission to the Moon, in December 1972. It weighs 120g (4.2oz), and is encased in a protective atmosphere

15 The Nakhla Meteorite came from Mars. In 1911, 40 stones fell near Nakhla, Egypt, preceded by a fireball and detonation. The stones ranged in size from 20g (0.7oz) to 1813g (4lb), and it is estimated a total of 10kg (22lb) fell. In the 1980s, comparisons between gases trapped in the meteorites and the atmosphere of Mars returned by the Viking landers provided evidence that this meteorite (and others) were pieces of the Red Planet. Only 34 examples of Martian meteorites are known.

16 Voyager missions revolutionised knowledge of the planets. A model of a Voyager Probe (above right) is in the Planets Gallery. Both Voyager craft were meant to last only five years, but still communicate with Earth every day. The first Voyager, launched in 1977, is the most distant manmade object from Earth. In Exploring the Universe you will see a copy of the gold message-disc placed on board both Voyager craft by Nasa. A kind of time capsule, to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials, the Voyager message is contained on a phonograph record – a 12in, gold-plated copper disc – and contains sounds and images of the diversity of life and culture on Earth.

17 MOP-4 is the fully engineered flight spare of the Meteosat 7 weather satellite. The Meteosat series of geostationary satellites has provided images of Earth and data for weather forecasts since 1977. This satellite was launched in 1997 and is in geostationary orbit 36,000km above the equator at 0 longitude. With a value of £3 million, the flight spare is the most valuable item in the collection.

18 The Space Shuttle Space travel changed radically with the arrival of the Space Shuttle, which looked like a conventional aircraft and used a runway for its return to Earth. The first Shuttle mission – aboard Columbia – was in April 1981. On display is the front tyre from the Shuttle Endeavour, mission STS68, which helped the spacecraft to land a six-man crew safely back to Florida in 1994. During its ten days in orbit, Endeavour flew around the Earth 160 times, so this tyre clocked more than 4.2 million miles

19 Tranquillity Base Visitors to the National Space Centre overwhelmingly identify human spaceflight as the subject that most excites them, both in the short term, with the return of the Space Shuttle following the Columbia disaster and in the long term as Nasa and the ESA plan the next big step for mankind, which might mean putting a human being on Mars – possibly in the 2030s. The Tranquillity Base, opened two years ago, is an interactive gallery designed to involve the visitor on every level. Imagine it is 2025 and you join the training crew of the All Earth Space Agency on Lunar Base Tranquillity. You will be challenged to your limits, tested on your own and as a team player, discover a life far away from home in the reaches of space, and travel through deep space to Europa, the ice-moon of Jupiter.

20 Space Now To celebrate the vast amount of space research in the UK, a new state-of-the-art gallery – Space Now – will open in October 2007 on the Times Readers’ weekend. We have been working with scientists, industry leaders and teachers to put together eye-opening stories about the wide range of British, European and global space endeavours. Cutting-edge technology, designed and built in Britain will be on display, so that visitors can see and touch the reality of space research.