
A world premiere interactive science exhibition where visitors explore the Solar System, featuring a real space toilet, a piece of the Moon, and astronaut Tim Peake's headset.
Horrible Science: Cosmic Chaos opened at the Science and Industry Museum on Tuesday 13 October and runs daily until Sunday 3 January 2027. It's a world premiere interactive exhibition that takes you on a high-energy voyage through the Solar System, where you walk in the shoes of astronauts, explore the Sun, discover moons and far-off worlds, and search for extra-terrestrial life. Along the way, you'll keep crossing paths with Dr Big Brain, the galaxy's greatest evil genius.
The exhibition was put together by the museum in collaboration with the producers of the new Horrible Science TV show — BBC Children's and Education and Lion Television, an All3Media company — and Scholastic, the publishers of the Horrible Science book series by Nick Arnold and illustrated by Tony De Saulles. If you grew up with those books, you'll recognise the same spirit here: science told with a bit of a wink and a lot of energy.
There are some genuine space artefacts on display. You'll find a real space toilet used by astronauts on the Soyuz-Mir spacecraft, a piece of the Moon that fell to Earth as a meteorite, and astronaut Tim Peake's headset from his 2015 space mission, which is being shown in public for the first time. There's also an interplanetary rover to programme, and you can experience the extreme temperature swings on Mercury, take a break under a twinkling starscape in the Cosy Crater, and dance on Disco Planet.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Manchester and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
Adult tickets are £10 and child tickets £8.70, with under-threes going free and a family discount available. It opens daily from 10:00, so it's an easy one to fit in on a weekday or a weekend.