Relics of three revolutions
The Science Museum in South Kensington contains an unparalleled collection of world-altering objects. Within a short walk, a visitor can see the actual space capsule that took humans to the Moon, the steam locomotive that launched the railway age, and a machine that broke secret codes during World War II. These artifacts represent fundamental shifts in human history: the exploration of space, the industrial revolution, and the dawn of computing.
The museum itself originated from the Great Exhibition of 1851 and was established as a separate entity in 1909. It now holds a collection of over seven million items, though not all are on public display.
The fastest humans have ever traveled
The Apollo 10 command module, nicknamed "Charlie Brown," is the only flown Apollo spacecraft displayed outside of the United States. In May 1969, it carried astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Eugene Cernan on a complete dress rehearsal for the first Moon landing, doing everything but touching down. During its return to Earth, the capsule reached a speed of 39,897 kilometers per hour (24,791 mph), a record for the fastest a human has ever traveled. The module has been on loan from the Smithsonian Institution since 1976 and is a centerpiece of the museum's collection. Its heat shield, still visibly scorched from atmospheric reentry, shows the forces of space travel.
The engine that changed the world
Decades before space travel, another revolution took hold. Stephenson's Rocket, built in 1829 by Robert Stephenson, is one of the most famous locomotives in the world. It was not the first steam engine, but its design incorporated several important innovations that became standard. Its feature was a multi-tube boiler containing 25 copper tubes, which dramatically increased the heating surface area and allowed for the generation of more steam at higher pressures. At the Rainhill Trials in October 1829, a competition to find the best locomotive for the new Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Rocket was the only entry to complete the trials, achieving a top speed of 30 miles per hour. It weighed 4.3 tonnes and operated at a boiler pressure of 50 pounds per square inch.
The codebreaker's computer
The hook's "computer that cracked Enigma" refers to the British Bombe machine. This was an electromechanical device, designed by Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman at Bletchley Park, to decipher messages encrypted by German Enigma machines during World War II. The Bombe worked by simulating the action of multiple Enigma machines, allowing cryptanalysts to test different rotor settings and plugboard connections at high speed to find the daily key. The first Bombe, named "Victory," became operational in March 1940. By the end of the war, around 211 Bombe machines were in operation. While the machine on display is a replica, it shows the technology that gave the Allies an important intelligence advantage. Another foundational computer, Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2, can also be found here. Designed between 1847 and 1849, this massive mechanical calculator—weighing five tons and comprising 8,000 parts—was built by the museum in 1991 according to Babbage's original plans.