A new exhibition about the Russian space programme is set to open at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)
Heritage Centre next week.
The exhibition, being held to coincide with half term, is based upon the collection of PhD student Andy Thomas, which he has gifted to the university,
Mr Thomas, who researched the Soviet space programme for his MA, collected memorabilia which date from the 1957 Sputnik 1 mission and the 1961 flight of Yuri Gagarin, the Russian pilot who was a global superstar after becoming the first human in space.
The space race between the USSR and the USA during the Cold War dominated the headlines as both tried to beat each other to be the first to ‘conquer’ space. The Soviet Union was the first to launch an artificial satellite with Sputnik 1 and later put the first man in space.
Mr Thomas’s collection shows the excitement and passion in the former Soviet Union for their space explorations.
They contain everyday objects like lights, models and children’s toys showing pictures of their astronaut heroes to very rare, original drawings by pioneer of astronaut theory, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
Mr Thomas, who is now a PhD student with the Department of Politics and Public Policy and a part-time lecturer, said: “I began collecting because my Master’s was on the Russian space programme, and I saw these artefacts on my travels of the former Soviet Russia. Among others I visited Crimea, the Ukraine, Belarus and studied my elementary certificate in Russian at Moscow State University.
“The Tsiolkovsky drawings are probably the rarest in my collection and they show a remarkable prescience for space travel today.”
Also included in the collection are genuine posters from the era, models of Sputnik 1 and the Lunokhod lunar rover produced for eager space collectors and a space-themed matchbox label collection which belonged to the grandfather of a woman who had been a guide for Mr Thomas on one of his visits. She told him her grandfather had collected it as a boy, and the family would like him to take care of it.
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It fuelled a lifelong interest in space exploration, which culminated in his MA in Russian space programme and now his PhD which is looking at the Chinese space programme. He also maintains a website,
andythomas.eu, on which he blogs about space, writing and travel.
Alongside Mr Thomas’s collection will be space themed quizzes and activities for young people.
Heritage Centre curator Elizabeth Wheelband said she was delighted to be able to host the exhibition over half term. She said: “The DMU collection has been largely made up of documents in the past but we are keen to have more artefacts such as this fascinating collection in the Kimberlin Archive.
Posted on Friday 12 February 2016