You Had Me at Space Toilet: The Latest Space Shuttle Exhibition

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“Space, the final frontier.” How many of you grew up dreaming to be astronauts and space scientists? Or a deep fascination with the beauty of space in “Star Trek” and “Interstellar”? These will not be far away from our lives. An interactive science exhibition entitled “From Here to Space” has been open to the public on Mar 18 at the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing, offering the public an immersive experience of how astronauts work and live through interactive technologies and virtual reality.

Children can experience the astronaut selection and training process through registration, psychological tests, simulation training, and other steps. Events are divided from easy to difficult, from cofferdam training, vibration seat, rotating seat, multi-dimensional ring, and more. The staff introduces that, “Astronauts experience high-intensity vibrations during the launch of the space flight and visitors will be able to experience it here firsthand.”

Visitors experiencing the weightlessness of being in space

Among the many experiences is the multi-dimensional ring which has been the most popular amongst visitors. Visitors can control experience 360 degrees of rotation. “The purpose of this device is for the astronauts to learn to orient themselves and control the simulator during the rotation of the spaceship.”, said the staff.

The space station “Tianhe”

Visitors can enter the core module model of the space station “Tianhe” as “astronauts”, which is equipped with living facilities such as sleeping bags, spacesuits, space bikes, and space toilets. “After astronauts enter space, their bodies will undergo a series of adaptive changes, and they have to carry out scientific physical exercises every day.”, said Di Xilong, the designer of the exhibition. Out of the core module, the audience will walk in the “cosmic dust theater”, an immersive space, the stars on the screen create a strong visual impact and a mysterious atmosphere into space.

The “Space Home” exhibition area has both sci-fi style and living atmosphere. The first thing you see in this area is the green space tomato vine in the space capsule tank. According to Hu Bin, the curator of the exhibition, this area will introduce space food and souvenirs to increase the interest of the exhibition. “We are showing the public that there are many scientific problems in space that we need to explore. The point of space breeding is that for possible future interstellar travel and migration, when we build a space station, we can provide the crew with plants that will continue to grow in space to provide food security.”

The “From Here to Space” exhibition will be open to the public free of charge in the short-term exhibition hall of China Science and Technology Museum. Visitors can make an appointment to visit through the official website or WeChat official account “China Digital Science and Technology Museum”(中国数字科技馆).

China Science and Technology Museum
中国科学技术馆

5 Beichen Donglu (ten minutes east of the south gate of the Olympic Forest Park), Chaoyang District
朝阳区北辰东路5号

Tue-Sun 9am-4.30pm, extended hours for special events (ticket selling 8.30am- 3.30pm)
Ph: 5904 1188

Images: Beijing News，CGTN，China Daily，Baidu Image, giphy

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