Video & pix: Tim Peake’s spacecraft lands at the National Railway Museum

A remarkable piece of space history has touched down in York.

Small, scorched, and looking more like a bottle bank than the Starship Enterprise, this Soyuz capsule transported Tim Peake and two other astronauts to Earth from the International Space Station.

“Can you imagine three people, in their full suits, sat inside that?” said museum director Judith McNicol.

“It’s mind-blowing that that happened. It must be an amazing feeling.”

Try it yourself

[arve url=”https://youtu.be/kHlthgu9g-w” title=”Tim Peake’s spacecraft at the NRM” /]

It was December 2015 when Major Tim Peake embarked on the the Principia mission to the International Space Station.

He was there for six months until, on June 18 2016, he climbed into the Soyuz TMA-19M descent module and hurtled back to his home planet.

As well as the capsule itself, visitors can see a video of Major Tim in space.

And they can experience for themselves his 400km descent via a virtual reality installation at the museum.

Narrated by Tim Peake himself and using state-of-the-art Samsung Gear VR you get a 360⁰ view inside the Soyuz capsule and puts you in the driving seat for the homeward mission.

“It means our vistors can come here and feel and see and have the sensory experience of falling from space in a capsule exactly like this,” said Judith.

“I’ve done it quite a few times – it’s great fun!”

Thousands to visit

Judith described the spacecraft’s arrival as a great coup for York.

It is here from parent attraction the Science Museum until the beginning of March.

“It’s huge – it’s a great coup to have something like this.

“I hope we’ll be looking at 50, 60, 70,000 people will come just to see this here.”