City 'over the moon' with opening of astronomy museum
A lunar sample brought back by the Chang'e-5 mission was revealed on Saturday at the Shanghai Astronomy Museum in celebration of its opening.
The sample, provided by the China National Space Administration, is displayed inside a crystal ball in the "Odyssey" exhibition zone on the second floor.
The lunar sample on display
Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng and vice Mayor Wu Qing attended the ceremony.
They announced the museum's opening together with Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration, Zhu Zhisong, executive deputy director of the Lingang Special Area Administrative Committee, and Ye Shuhua, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The museum, known as the largest in the world with a floor area of 38,000 square meters, will officially open its doors to the public on Sunday.
Birds-eye view of the museum
The museum's main building is built in the shape of spiral to imitate orbits of celestial bodies, featuring an oculus, an inverted dome and a spherical theater. The three main exhibition zones – Home, Cosmos and Odyssey – inspire people to feel the sky and understand the universe.
True-to-life planets
The museum is a new branch of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, in addition to the previously-opened Shanghai Natural History Museum.
Its opening marks the new stage of the development of the city's large comprehensive scientific museum cluster, and it will further enhance the city's soft power.
The museum's interior structure
