12/15: Principia Lates Space Celebration (UK)

Join us on Tuesday 15 December for a one-of-a-kind Lates celebrating Tim Peake's historic Principia mission, as he becomes the first British astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) with the European Space Agency.

This action-packed evening of over 50 free events across the Museum is set to be our biggest ever space celebration. The night will kick off with a special screening of Tim Peake's arrival at the ISS - the first time this video coverage will be seen anywhere in public. We'll have a giant screen in the Museum via which you'll be the first to see and hear him in a live link-up with his family from space.

Following the screening, a series of talks, debates, workshops and games will be led by space experts and real astronauts including legendary cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man ever to walk in space.

Celebrate this historic day by pondering humanity's future in the cosmos, learning about the zero-gravity experiments being done inside the ISS, visiting a pop-up planetarium or even building your own pocket-sized spacecraft.

This fantastic programme of events will challenge and inspire you, prompting reflection on mankind's previous successes in space exploration and looking ahead to the steps that we have yet to take.

Our blockbuster exhibition Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age is open all evening (except 19.15-20.00 to allow for filming).