ASTRONAUT Tim Peake’s Soyuz spacecraft attracted a total of 110,000 visits to the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford.

The figure, which included 4,000 schoolchildren, was released today by the Science Museum Group as it hailed the success of a UK tour which started with an eight-week stay in the city in September 2017.

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More than 1.3 million people saw the capsule which brought the British astronaut back down to Earth, during its 20-month tour of UK presented by Samsung.

Jo Quinton-Tulloch, director of the National Science and Media Museum, said: “Launching the UK tour of Tim Peake’s spacecraft in September 2017, with Tim himself making the announcement, was an inspirational event.

“The display of the Soyuz capsule attracted almost 110,000 visits here - a year-on-year increase of more than 60% - including more than 4,000 schoolchildren from within Bradford district.”

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Tim Peake at the National Science and Media MuseumTim Peake at the National Science and Media Museum

As part of a Science Museum Group-wide programme marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the National Science and Media Museum will open its interactive family exhibition, Hello Universe, in July. Space exploration is also a headline theme for the 2019 Bradford Science Festival, taking place the same month.

Tim Peake said: “I’m incredibly proud that over 1.3 million people across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have had the chance to get up close to my Soyuz spacecraft.

"It’s wonderful how the Science Museum Group and Samsung have come together through this tour to extend the Principia Mission’s impact in inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.”

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Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said: “The number of people who saw Tim Peake’s Soyuz spacecraft highlights how science and space travel continue to inspires us. The tour’s success underlines why we make our world class culture accessible to everyone in all corners of the country.”

A three-strand Education Outreach Programme, developed by the Science Museum Group and Samsung, reached over 20,000 students through a combination of in-school sessions with SMG’s Explainer team, special visits to see the Soyuz and a bus designed to replicate the setting of the International Space Station, with headsets showing Space Descent VR.

In addition to the Education Outreach Programme, the bus visited communities across the UK welcoming over 21,000 onboard.