posted 09-13-2006 09:04 AM
During a recent trip to the Czech Republic, I had the opportunity to stop by the Museum of Flight in the Kbely suburb of Prague. It was not easy to find; it is sparsely signposted and the entry could just be another factory as the ones situated in the neighborhood. 
My main interest was to see the Soyuz 28 landing spacecraft that the first Czech cosmonaut Vladimir Remek used to return to Earth. It "landed" there, and is exhibited in a covered hall amongst plenty of 20th century aircraft, primarily from Eastern Europe.
The landing apparatus hosts a mockup of Remek's spacesuit inside the craft. A description outlines the background of the mission.
I would have wanted to see what they got in terms of memorabilia, but the shop and the cafeteria were closed. Overall, the museum makes a pretty rundown impression, as if nothing had been done since the downfall of Communism fifteen years ago. There are plenty of aircraft in the open air part of the museum that look pretty rusty and neglected, just as if they had chosen to dump them in the museum to save the money to bring them to the scrapyard. Those exhibits dedicated to history seem to have been left like before the "velvet spring", there is no animation, no real presentation of context.
Too bad - there were plenty of fathers roaming the place with their fascinated sons in tow - they would have deserved a better show.
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Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies
[Edited by collectSPACE Admin (September 13, 2006).]
posted 09-13-2006 09:04 AM
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