A terrestrial twin
The centerpiece of the Cité de l'Espace gardens is a full-scale model of the Mir space station. While the original station famously re-entered Earth's atmosphere in 2001, this exhibit is no simple replica. It is a "terrestrial twin"—an authentic engineering model built by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. These modules were used to test materials, electronics, and interior equipment layouts before the flight-ready components were sent into orbit.
Inside, you can move through the core module, the Kvant-2 scientific module, and the Kristall technological module. The interior is a faithful reconstruction of the cramped environment where cosmonauts lived and worked for fifteen years. Authentic objects loaned by the French space agency, CNES, complete the scene. These include a space exercise bike used for physical conditioning and components from the "FERTILE" experiment, which studied amphibian embryonic development in microgravity. The entire installation shows the station as it was configured between 1990 and 1995.