LONDON May 27 (People's Daily Online)—— Science Museum in London will open a ground-breaking exhibition, Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age in September 2015. The exhibition represents the most comprehensive and in-depth look into the Russian space programme, showcasing the most significant collection of the country’s spacecraft and artefacts ever to be shown outside Russia. Cosmonauts tells the remarkable story of the scientific and technological innovation that launched the space age.

Gordon Innes, Chief Executive of London & Partners, said “London will be the first city in the world to host this fascinating exhibition which tells the story of Russian space exploration in more depth than ever before. The Science Museum has done an incredible job bringing this to the capital. We can expect visitors from around the world to attend the exhibition providing a further boost in visitors to the city.”

Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, said: “Cosmonauts is a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition that has taken years of dedication and skill from the Science Museum team to make a reality. The Russian space programme is one of the great intellectual, scientific and engineering successes of the 20th century and I am thrilled that we have been able to bring together such an outstanding collection of Russian space artefacts to celebrate these achievements.”

Last year the Science Museum welcomed 3.4 million visitors, a 1.2% increase on the previous year. Building on that success, this exhibition represents a major collaboration between the Science Museum, the State Museum Exhibition Centre ROSIZO and the Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos. The support of many other institutions and individuals in the UK and Russia has also been crucial in the development of the exhibition.

The exhibition opens from 18 September 2015 until 20 March 2016.