One of the most visited attractions in London right now is The Moonwalker experience at Lightroom, King’s Cross.
It's 50 minutes of images and video footage from the NASA Apollo missions to the Moon, displayed on giant screens and narrated by actor and filmmaker Tom Hanks
With stunning, 360º immersive visuals and powerful audio, the show takes the public part way along the historic journey of humankind’s first landings on the Moon.
But only part of the way.
The Space Vault Exhibition of human spaceflight is on display at the River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames until the end of June 2025.
It takes the public deeper and farther into space, bringing visitors to within inches of rare and historic artefacts that have put astronauts into space, flown in Earth orbit and landed on a celestial body other than Earth.
Where it all began
My interest in space began aged six. At school assembly we joined millions across the world watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land on the Moon.
The event lodged in my memory, largely I think, not because JFK described the Apollo missions as "the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked," but because the large black and white TV up there on the stage was housed in a wooden cabinet on four spider-like legs, and looked a lot like the lunar lander.
Jump forward 40 years, and to an article I read that explained how NASA had made an ownership claim against Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell, aiming to halt his sale of a page used to rescue the aborted Apollo 13 mission.
This single page had just been sold at auction for US$388,375, and NASA wanted it back.
The artefacts fetched this high price was because etched on the document were the hand-written coordinates that Apollo 13 Mission Control had read up to the stricken crew so the spacecraft could maintain attitude as the Command Module performed an emergency power-down and the crew retreated to the Lunar Module.
I was staggered at the price, and equally astonished to learn there was an auction market for artefacts from the Moon landings.
NASA eventually lost this legal argument, in the form of a rare show of bipartisanship in the US legislature.
Passed without objection in 2012 was Act H.R. 4158, giving full legal rights of sale over artefacts owned by astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, including logbooks, checklists and flight manuals.
The passing of the Act coincided with my own sale of a small business, which left me with funds to participate in the short-lived wave of Apollo artefacts auctions that the Act unleashed.
Under the hammer came a suite of truly historic objects, which had each played a part in placing humans on the Moon.
These early auctions were a little like the unearthing of Egyptian treasures, but in this case legally coming onto the open market after a half lifetime hanging on walls and sitting in the bank vaults of the Apollo astronauts.
What's at the Space Vault Exhibition?
Some of what is now on display at the Space Vault Exhibition until the end of June 2025 includes:
- actual Moon dust from the Hadley Rille landing site of Apollo 15, collected from the bottom of the personal kit bag of commander Dave Scott during his three days on the lunar surface
- the complete, original and heavily-annotated mission manuals that played a critical role in saving the crew of Apollo 13 when its oxygen tank exploded on the way to the Moon
- the spacesuit umbilical connector through which Dave Scott communicated his first words as he stepped out onto the surface of the Moon
- the astronaut evaluations of Buzz Aldrin conducted by Neil Armstrong, which led to Buzz’s selection as lunar module pilot for the first Moon landing
- an original and complete Soviet era Strizh pressure suit developed for the Buran space shuttle program
- a thermal protection panel from the US Space Shuttle, heavily charred from re-entry to Earth
- rocket debris from a SpaceX test flight of the Falcon 9.
Visitors to the exhibition can view these artefacts up close. They can read the thrilling stories, and watch and listen to archive material that takes people back to the heart of these dangerous and wondrous missions.
Around the exhibition we have built an evening programme of expert talks, including from engineers designing the next lunar lander and working to remove space debris before it can start a chain reaction of destruction.
And to get really close to the artefacts, visitors can also book a Behind-the-Vault session, guided by myself and other experts.
The Space Vault exhibition is at the River & Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, until 1 July 2025. Entry is free with admission.
To book tickets, browse the programme of Expert Talks and to register for a Behind-The-Vault session, visit www.thespacevault.org/bookings.
