Inside that gigantic wooden box is one a serious piece of space memorabilia.
Seattle’s Museum of Flight today took delivery of the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft, on long-term loan from former Microsoft engineer Charles Simonyi, the two-time space tourist who came back from the International Space Station in this very capsule in April 2009.
A team from the Russian Space Agency is on hand to unpack, activate and energize the Soyuz, according to a media advisory. The capsule will be on public display starting later today, at the Museum of Flight’s Charles Simonyi Space Gallery, 9305 East Marginal Way South.
The Soyuz will be joined later this year by the Full Fuselage Trainer wingless Space Shuttle orbiter mockup, which will be coming from NASA.
No word yet on when our new space toilet will be ready.