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A UK National Space Science Centre (right) should lift off in Leicester in 2000 with the aim of attracting 300,000 visitors a year, thanks to a grant of £23 million (US$38 million) from the Millennium Commission.

The centre will include displays and hands-on activities to convey current knowledge about space, astronomy and the global environment. There will be a planetarium and a Challenger Learning Centre — an educational initiative backed by the US space agency NASA — offering simulated space flights.

Exhibits will include objects from the European Space Agency and pieces of moon rock from NASA.

Credit: NSSC

The centre will be built on the site of a decaying sewage treatment works which is owned by Leicester City Council and Severn Trent Water.