Barbara Hoppel, director of Space Expo.
We need more ‘space’ TEXT: MICHIEL STOL | PHOTOS: SPACE EXPO
Space is all around us, and not just literally, either; over the past decades, we have been relying more on space than ever before, to help us with communication, mobility and tackling problems like climate change. At Space Expo in Noordwijk, the official visitor centre for ESA ESTEC, you can learn all about space. “But we need more space,” says Barbara Hoppel, director of Space Expo. ESTEC is the European Space Research and Technology Centre of the European space agency ESA. Here in Noordwijk, roughly 2,800 people work in the technical heart of ESA. As space and spaceflight continues to expand with the possibility of more manned flights and even commercial space flights, Space Expo 56 | Issue 71 | November 2019
is looking towards its own expansion. Hoppel: “Each year, over 100,000 people visit us. They love our museum, but we want to give them more. We want them to experience more space and technology. That is why, in 2020, there will be an overhaul of the museum. We might want our visitors to even go on their own ‘mission’. As for the long term, we want to go a step further, even. Space Expo should become an experience centre full of knowledge, information and education.”
everything can be touched. The older the children are, the more information they will pick up. “They even get their own astronaut diploma afterwards.” Grown-ups will enjoy the museum as well. The main exhibition shows all that has to do with space travel, satellites and technology. “One of the main features is the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft that brought Dutch astronaut André Kuipers to the International Space Station (ISS) and back. Kuipers has been to space twice.”
The Soyuz capsule of André Kuipers
Apollo and the moon landing
Since its opening in 1990, Space Expo has been displaying a highly interesting space exhibition. The interactive museum has a lot to offer for all ages. Children are in an exciting environment, there are many interactive places and almost
This year is the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. To commemorate that, Space Expo has an exhibition dedicated to this event. “That moment was of such importance. So, we are delighted that we have and can show original