In October of last year, Dutchman and I went to the travelling exhibit of NASA, ‘A Human Adventure’ in Jaarbeurs, Utrecht. The exhibit is until 31 January and its next destination is Tokyo, Japan. Before the Netherlands, the exhibition was displayed in Istanbul, Turkey and Madrid, Spain.
I am not very fond of exhibits and museums per se, mainly because I have a drop of ADHD in me. I have a very short attention span on general matters, which is a mystery that I managed to go through traditional school (which I hated by the way) and earned a diploma. A museum and an exhibit have to fall along my interests otherwise I will be bored to death. Which is why I rarely go to museums, although I really need to up my museum visiting because museums these days are rapidly changing. They have become modern, interactive and offer a variety of distraction, other than just stale paintings of dead people hanging from the walls and featuring bust sculptures of some ancient lunatic dictator on top of a pedestal.
A Human Adventure
Main International Website: A Human Adventure | Dutch Version Website: A Human Adventure
Nevertheless, the universe and all that space out there interests me to no end. What is out there? Are we alone in this universe? Do you really believe that god created all this? What lies beyond the edge of the observable universe? Is the universe expanding? What about that black hole they say…
I love intellectual pursuits especially when it concerns science, history, geography, our evolution and more. Which is why I am a fan of Discovery and National Geographic. There are so many questions out there and I do not think we will have answers to them in our lifetime.
In a nutshell, the exhibition is a story of human accomplishment of discovering space, the moon and our universe. It is a work-in-progress achievement because there is more to see and discover in and outside our universe than any state of the art telescope, space shuttle and station meets the eye.
Dutchman and I were in fact expecting more from the exhibition. We were really excited, we were looking forward to seeing some big bang and lots of interactive spectacle, but helaas, the exhibit is what you call, umm, a usual exhibit. An exhibition of stories, history and artefacts. Our high expectations were crashed, sadly. High expectations are never good to begin with, that is if you want some bliss.
Now I didn’t get to take pictures of everything, just some of the stuff that interests me along the way.
Come, explore with me the exhibit.
The 1950s through the 60s and 70s were a time of SPACE RACE between the United States of America and Russia. Ultimately both countries won their FIRSTS.
FIRST MAN on SPACE: Yuri Gagarin, 12 April 1961 (Russia)
FIRST MAN on the MOON: Neil Armstrong, 20 July 1969 (USA)
But the real winner is this monkey. He was sent to space before both of the men arrived so he is therefore the first living creature from earth to have reached space. His name: Albert II and he arrived in space on 14 June, 1949.
Interestingly, the FATHER OF ROCKET SCIENCE is Wehrner von Braun, a German national who had pledged his allegiance to the Nazi regime.
As we all know the Nazi regime was defeated and Wehrner von Braun and his comrades counted the cost very well. They decided to surrender to the Americans than to the Russians. The Americans of course knew the gold catch they have in their hands and quickly flew him over to the USA in some clandestine Paperclip Operation. The rest is as we say history, as he was the man behind the Saturn V that launched Apollo to the moon, and many other equally important space projects.
If the space, the moon and the stars are up your alley, then check out the link to this exhibition above and find out of it is visiting your city or country.
Visit Period: October 2013
Destination: Utrecht (Utrecht), the Netherlands
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