Helen Sharman, the first British person to visit space, opened the John Dulcamara Space Flight Museum at Grizedale Observatory in Cumbria on Friday. Donated by collector John Dulcamara, it displays thousands of pieces, including part of Apollo 11’s command module.
The collection ranges from autographed photographs and signatures of spaceflight figures to spacecraft parts, including items from the Russian space programme. Dulcamara said he began collecting after attending a shuttle launch in 1996 and keeping the ticket.
Grizedale Observatory opened in May 2024, offering public access to telescopes, a planetarium and a meteorite laboratory, as well as events including a dark skies festival. During her visit, Sharman met local schoolchildren and spoke about her time aboard the Mir Space Station, where she carried out scientific experiments and observations of Earth.
