Birth of the space age exhibition: how we got the Russians on board

For us at the British embassy in Moscow, the Science Museum's Cosmonauts exhibition became a massive exercise in relationship-building, Russian style

The capsule flown by the first woman in space and the five metre-high lunar lander designed to take a single cosmonaut to the Moon are among 150 items showcased at the London Science Museum from today (18 September). Cosmonauts: birth of the space age is an exhibition about the Soviet space industry - and the culmination of four years of hard work and cooperation between British and Russian museums and governments.