The Cité de l'espace (French for Space City) is a scientific discovery centre in France focused on spaceflight. It was opened in June 1997, and is located on the eastern outskirts of Toulouse. It was carried out on the initiative of the Town Hall of Toulouse with the participation of numerous partners such as the Regional Council of Midi-Pyrénées, the Ministries of Equipment, Transport, Defence, National Education, Research and Technology, the National Center for Space Studies (CNES), Météo-France, EADS, Astrium, among others. , there had been more than four million visitors.

Exhibits and installations

Full-scale models of the Ariane 5 rocket (55 m), Mir, and Soyuz modules can be seen in the museum. 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 in orbit. Terr@dome (a terrestrial half-sphere 25 m in diameter) presents the history of space from the Big-bang to the creation of the Solar System. The Astralia, a building which opened in 2005, houses both a 280-seat planetarium, equipped with a 600 m2 hemispherical screen and a 300-seat IMAX theatre, showing sequences filmed in space (such as Hubble 3D).

History

Some figures