By Steve Nichols
The ESA pavilion, between the full-size models of Ariane 1 and Ariane 5 beside the Air and Space Museum, is launching visitors into outer space to explore the cosmos and find out about ESA’s astronomy missions.
You can take a close look at the Solar System, thanks to huge spectacular images of the Sun, Venus, Mars, Titan and the Moon - all places where ESA has now “set foot”.
There is also a scale model of the Jules Verne ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) and ESA’s Columbus module for the International Space Station (ISS).
Robots will also show you what they will be able to do on faraway planets in the not-so-distant future, especially on the European mission to Mars (ExoMars) programme.
Three ESA astronauts (Paolo Nespoli from Italy, Leopold Eyharts from France and Hans Schlegel from Germany) are set to fly to the Space Station between autumn and winter this year and 3-D images taken on the ISS enables visitors to experience the wonder of “almost being there.” There are also models of launchers, telecommunication and satellite navigation systems.
ESA experts will be on hand to provide background information during the entire Air Show while astronauts will be "on stage" for the general public on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 June.
Source: Flight Daily News
