Moscow: Memorial Museum Of Cosmonautics And Ostankino Tower

Our sightseeing tour around Moscow includes a visit to The Memorial Museum Of Cosmonautics and Ostankino Tower. These may not be 'the best' of Moscow attractions but they are attractive places in their own sense.

The Memorial Museum Of Cosmonautics 

This museum is the perfect place for those who love space exploration and space science. I am not a fan but still, a visit here was very enlightening. 

The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics is housed at the base of a very unique monument. 'The Monument To The Conquerors Of Space' is a 110 meters tall structure made of titanium.

This monument was erected in 1964 to celebrate the achievement of Soviet Union's space explorers.

There is an impressive display of sculptures and space science related arts at the entrance and ticketing area of Cosmonautics Museum. 

The museum interior boasts of 85000 exhibits many of which are actual items that have gone into space and come back.

Some very interesting exhibits include space landing capsules, satellites, space suits, and space crafts which we rarely see except on videos and TVs.

We were also allowed a visit into the interior of a few space crafts.

Inside the space craft, one can get a feel of the little space that the astronauts live in during their exploration.

Among other exhibits are pictures of animals that were used in Soviet space research. This museum is one of the few attractions in Moscow with write-ups in English.

Mummified dogs that have gone into space and returned alive are among the display in the museum. An interesting fact I found out was only 'paria' dogs (street dogs) are chosen to go into space as they are more hardy and more able to adapt!

People who have participated in the "pay program' for Russia's space exploration are also recorded in the museum. And guess what I saw? A picture of Malaysia's Sheikh Muszaphar was among participants of various nations.

Ostankino Tower

It was raining quite heavily when I visited Ostankino Tower. I was looking forward to getting a bird's eye view of Moscow City from the tower but visibility was so bad that I hardly got to see anything. That was the saddest moment of my Russia trip.

Ostankino tower is a radio and TV tower. Measuring 540.1 meters, it is the tallest free standing structure in Europe and the 8th tallest in the world. We had to go through strict security to get in, being scanned and all that.

It took 58 seconds to get to the observation deck using the elevator. The deck is circular with glass windows all around it. On a clear day visibility is up to 60km but the rain blurred out the windows and we didn't see much. There are glass windows on the floor where visitors can stand or sit to look 337 meters down to the base of the tower. Scary thoughts came to the mind when I was sitting there. "What if the floor window breaks?" But that won't happen as the glass is specially made to withstand heavy weight.

That was the best we could see that day.

This is the view from the floor window.

Standing at different window panels, one can view different sets of panorama and these are depicted on pictures displayed at the top of the various panels.

Click To See Other Related Posts:
1. A Trip To Russia - Introductory Post
2. Russia: A Day Out At Sergiyev Posad
3. My Russian Dining Experience
4. Russian Souvenirs

MOSCOW
5.  Cathedral Of Christ The Saviour
6. Moscow Hard Rock Cafe And Old Arbat Street
7. Russia: Moscow Metro
8.  Moscow Kremlin
9. Sparrow Hill And Victory Park
10. Museum Of Cosmonautics And Ostankino Tower
11. Red Square (Krasnaya Ploshchard)
12. Saint Basil's Cathedral
13. GUM Department Store
14. Milan Hotel Review
15. What I Like About Moscow

ST PETERSBURG
16. From Moscow To St Petersburg On Sapsan High Speed Train
17. Winter Palace/ State Hermitage Museum
18. St Isaac's Cathedral And Some Nearby Attractions
19. Seeing St Petersburg From Its Rivers
20. St Petersburg Most Gorgeous Building
21.St Petersburg's Peter And Paul Fortress
22.A Traditional Village , A Modern City
23. A Visit To 2 Summer Palaces

24. Smolninskaya Hotel