Musée Museum "Samara Cosmos"

You have probably noticed our main exhibit «Soyuz Launch vehicle» monument while you were approaching the museum. It is not only embellishing the museum`s exterior but it is also a symbol of our city.

The history of this monument is the following: during the anniversary of the Samara «Progress Rocket Space Center» and the 80th anniversary of the General Constructor  Dmitri Iliyich Kozlov the Ministry of Defense hand over «Soyuz-U Launch vehicle» to the city. This rocket was manufactured in our city in 1984. For 15 years it served as a training unit at the «Plesetsk» spaceport in Archangelsk region. After its handing over to the city center and its modification to an exhibition item the monument was erected in 2001 to commemorate the contribution of  the city and the region to the development  of  Russian cosmonautics.  

The 2 of January 1958 is known as the birthday of the city’s rocket-space industry – it is the date of the Government’s decision to deploy the R-7 ballistic rocket serial assembly line in Kuibyshev city. From 1935 to 1991 our city was called Kuibishev.The city was closed for foreign visitors due to its classified defense enterprises.  In our days citizens and visitors of our city have an opportunity to learn a lot of interesting facts about space Samara.

Samara Cosmos museum opened its doors for the visitors on Cosmonautics day on the 12th  of April 2007. The monument`s historical complex, the museum`s building, represents a unified  architectural solution  and is known to be one of the most successful in town. The overall height of the monument is 68 m , the height of the rocket is 50 m, the overall weight of the support constructions are 53 tons.  

On the left side of the museum there is a well-known  cosmodoll, the first object of public art in the city. This is an integrated into the city environment piece of art which can be hardly named as a monument or a city sculpture in its traditional sense. This orange figure of the cosmonaut appeared in 2011 and quickly became a favorite brand of the city and the topic of discussion on  the internet. Its name Cosmopups was invented by citizens.