At £13 entry plus a charge for parking, the NSC is not cheap. The offer to upgrade your ticket to an annual entry pass, which implies you can't get round it all in a day, plus the imposing & unusual shape of the building gave me high expectations for my visit. Sadly the NSC doesn't really live up to expectations & lacks a bit of a wow factor. The Soyez craft in the foyer epitomises the place for me. On the one hand it's great to have it hanging in the foyer but so what? Why is it important, show me how it fits in to the overall space race, in an interesting way. On the plus side the planetarium with its show narrated by David Tennant is very interesting. As is the weather station where you can record your own weather report against a green screen. You can them e-mail it to friends & family. The simulator ride is also well done & there are some other interactive exhibits which hold the interest well. Sadly there are many parts of the exhibition that are just walls of reading. That's fine as far as it goes but I could have got a book from the library or looked it up on the Internet for free if all I wanted to do was read. When I pay for entry to a museum I expect something a little more stimulating. I'm glad I went here to see & experience the good things it had to offer but sad that they hadn't done more with what they had. Finally, my enjoyment of the NSC was somewhat diminished by the groups of loud & unruly school children who were present during my visit. It's a sad reflection on the schools these children come from that the teachers allow them to charge around the museum screaming & shouting. They can't be learning anything & are certainly disrupting the other guests. NSC also need to take some responsibility for keeping these groups under control.
