City of Space, Space theme park and astronautical museum in Toulouse, France
The City of Space is a scientific discovery centre in Toulouse, France, covering 3.5 hectares (9 acres) with 2,000 square metres of exhibition space. Its gardens display full-scale models including an Ariane 5 rocket, the Mir station, Soyuz and Apollo modules, and the XMM-Newton telescope. Indoors are interactive exhibits, a 280-seat planetarium with a 600 m² hemispherical screen, and an IMAX theatre.
The Cité de l'espace opened in June 1997, initiated by the Toulouse city council under mayor Dominique Baudis, with Claudie Haigneré as godmother. The main building occupies the unfinished site of the Alain Inard museum-foundation, topped by Henri-Georges Adam's sculpture "la Chapelle blanche". A full-scale Mir station opened in July 1998, followed by the Terr@dome in 2000 and the Astralia building with planetarium and IMAX in 2005.
The Occitan name is Ciutat de l'espaci. The park's godmother is spationaut Claudie Haigneré, and Thomas Pesquet visited in 2017 and 2022. The Stellarium, a 130-seat planetarium, shows programmes for younger visitors.
The site offers parking, restaurants and picnic areas as well as complete wheelchair access to all exhibitions and attractions. Visitors should plan several hours to explore the pavilions, presentations and outdoor areas at a comfortable pace.
The garden holds a lunar rover from China's Chang'e 4 mission and the XMM-Newton space telescope, alongside a full-scale Ariane 5 replica 53 metres tall. In April 2025 mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope were installed among the outdoor exhibits.
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