• Swindon & Wiltshire Culture
• Tuesday August 20 2024
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Science Museum’s Swindon collection to open to public for first time

The Science Museum’s National Collections Centre near Swindon is to open to the public for guided doors for the first time this autumn.

While three million visitors file through the doors of the Science Museum in London every year, 90 per cent of the museum’s collection is housed at the Science and Innovation Park at Wroughton, the construction of which was completed in 2021.

The 545-acre former airfield houses 300,000 items, ranging in size from a 1901 Glasgow tramcar and a Spacelab 2 X-ray telescope carried into orbit by the US Space Shuttle Challenger to the rubber duck which helped guide a spacecraft to land on a comet.

The park is also home to a 183-acre, 50 MW solar farm. When it opened in 2016 it was one of the largest in the UK.

Guided tours will take place in October and November. To book a place, visit https://www.scienceinnovationpark.org.uk/visit-us

Latest: Wroughton Science Museum reopens with new name to honour one of world’s greatest physicists