The Cité de l'espace ( French for Space City) is a scientific discovery centre in France focused on

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in o ...

. It was opened in June 1997 and is located on the eastern outskirts of

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

. , there had been more than four million visitors.

Exhibits and installations

One can visit full-scale models of the Ariane 5 rocket (),

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

, and

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

modules. The original planetarium has 140 seats and presents shows throughout the day. Cité de l'espace also has numerous exhibits, often interactive; for example, a mock-up of a control room near the model of Ariane 5, allows visitors to prepare the launching of a rocket, help with its flight and then place a

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

in orbit. Terr@dome (a terrestrial half-sphere in diameter) presents the history of space from the

Big-bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...

to the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

. A building named Astralia, which opened in 2005, includes: a 280-seat planetarium, called the Stellarium, equipped with a hemispherical screen in area; a 300-seat IMAX cinema, which shows the film ''Hubble 3D'' (previously ''Space Station 3D'', a 3D film made on board the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

); and conference rooms.

History

*1994 to 1997 : Development of the Cité de l'espace spearheaded by Jean-Michel Oberto, the founding director of the park *June 1997 : Opening of the Cité de l'espace by Dominique Baudis, Representant-Mayor of

, and

Claudie Haigneré Claudie (André-Deshays) Haigneré (born 13 May 1957) is a French doctor, politician and former astronaut with the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (1985–1999) and the European Space Agency (1999–2002). Background and training Born in ...

, spationaut and godmother of the park. *July 1998 : Opening of the full scale

. *September 2000 : The millionth visitor is welcomed to the Cité. *October 2000 : Opening of the Terr@dome. *October 2002 : Opening of a permanent exhibition hall about

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. *July 2003 : Start point of the 13th stage of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

. *October 2003 : The Cité de l'espace is officially designated a "''Tourisme et Handicap''" site for the four types of handicap (mental, visual, motor, hearing). *April 2005 : Opening of "''Astralia - le 6ème continent''", (the 6th continent), notably housing the planetarium and the IMAX cinema. *May 2006 : Opening of an area for children, "''la Base des Enfants''".

Some figures

* 200,000 visitors in 2004 * Park area: * of exhibition space * 2 planetariums of 140 and 280 seats, and in diameter respectively.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cite De L'espace Museums in Toulouse Spaceflight Science museums in France Amusement parks in France Tourist attractions in Haute-Garonne 1997 establishments in France Amusement parks opened in 1997