Cité de l'espace (Space City), Toulouse (must see)

Toulouse is the center of the European aerospace industry. It is the home of Space City which is a scientific learning center. It is located on the eastern edge of Toulouse. Since it opened in 1997 it has had well over four million visitors. The Space City Park was developed, founded and directed by Jean-Michel Obetto.

The park realizes over 200,000 visitors a year. The park area covers about nine acres and it has about 22,000 square feet of exhibition space. There are two planetariums of up to a 280 seat capacity. Visitors can encounter full-scale models of the French rocket ship Ariane 5, and Mir, and Soyuz modules. The center has numerous interactive exhibits.

There is an interactive mock up of a control room near the Ariane 5 exhibit. Visitors can supervise the preparation of a rocket for take-off, assist in its flight and set a satellite in orbit. The history of space, from The Big Bang to the origin of the solar system can be seen in the Terr@dome. The Terr@dome is an earth-like half sphere.

Astralia, a building housing a 280 seat planetarium called the Stellarium opened in 2005. The Stellarium has a semi-spherical 6,500 square foot screen area and a 300 seat IMAX theatre. The theatre shows the 3D film Hubble 3D, made on board the International Space Station. After all the history seen in Toulouse, here is a place of Now and the Future.