@AC Not really, no.
The National Space Centre was a project run, in part, by Prof Alan Wells from the University of Leicester Physics Dept (which at the time had X-Ray Astronomy, Astronomy, and Earth Observation Depts) and the National Lottery. It still has ties with the University of Leicester's Space Research Centre, and provides science workshops for schoolkids to encourage STEM.
A new, totally non tourist Space Park is being built in a nearby plot, which also has ties with the University of Leicester's Space Research Centre. Plus of course there's the actual University of Leicester's Space Research Centre, on the campus at Leicester University.
So the tourist part is for tourists, but, understandably, tourists aren't allowed in the clean rooms, where satellite parts are assembled, nor to shoulder surf the PhDs and Post Docs while they process satellite data.
I quite like the 'tourist attraction' part myself, it's got some space junk, and who doesn't like that.
That reminds, me,.... I should arrange to go for beers with the folks I used to work with at the Space Research Centre.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
