Museum Cat: Taking to the air: History of flight in the galleries of Science Museum

Educational project Museum Cat is successfully running art kids program for last 6 years. We work primary with Russian children. However not all bilingual children are good in understanding Russian language and due to demand we like to introduce in English one of our favourite tours “Taking to the air: History of flight in the galleries of Science Museum”.

The dream of taking to the air has fascinated people for centuries. Inspired by birds, bats, and insects, people have worked for much of history to fulfil one of their biggest dreams: flight. During our tour we will learn how people finally managed to leave the earth behind, and will find out the scientific secrets that allow huge modern planes take to the air!

To explore the modern magic of flight, we will start in medieval times, when the public would gather to witness enthusiasts with homemade wings jumping from towers. We will learn about Montgolfier Brothers, the inventors of the first hot air balloon, that in 1783 successfully took people to the sky and back! In the 19th century crowds came to watch Otto Lilienthal experimenting with another new machine — the glider.

Finally, on the 17th of December 1903 onlookers were astonished when they witnessed the Wilbur and Orville Wright’s Flyer successfully launching into the air. That day the Wright Brothers started an era of aviation fueled by secrecy, rivalry and ambition to create better, stronger, bigger planes. Planes that would set record after record, flying higher and further and faster before.

Join our tour to learn more about pilots like Louis Bleriot and Amy Johnson, both of whom set new records and helped to create the humongous planes that adventured across unexplored wilderness, defended Britain from above during WW2, and now carry hundreds of passengers around the world in a single bound in search of sea and sun.

11.00 tour Taking to the air, in English
13.00 tour Taking to the air, in Russian
15.00 tour Taking to the air, in English

For kids 6-9 y.o.
The tour is run by professional Blue badge guide