J&C Joel was chosen to supply the drapery package for the exhibition of Tim Peake’s Spacecraft at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford.
The Soyuz TMA-19M descent module is the historic spacecraft that brought astronaut Tim Peake back to Earth after his mission to the International Space Station. The historic artefact arrived at the museum in 2017, to be showcased to the public.
J&C Joel was given the challenge to manufacture drapes that were able to protect the longevity of the capsule by masking and blocking out visible and UV light from entering the museum via windows.
Six drapes were produced to each cover a window in the venue.
On the side of the drape facing the window, Mellosun was used as a face fabric to protect the spacecraft from discolouration by diffusing light and protecting against the damage of the sun.
J&C Joel then carefully chose the fabric white Mercury (MER029) to line the drapes, due to its excellent masking and blackout qualities, as well as having an enhancing appearance. This fabric was on the side of the drapes that faced the room in which the artefact was being displayed, so it was important the appearance was appealing.
Each of the drapes varied in size according to the size of the window that they were to mask. All of the drapes had a drop of 11.15m and widths which ranged from 3.28m to 3.49m.
Finally, the drapes were installed using 25mm white Tie Tapes and Velcro for an easy, sturdy attachment.
Justin Walsh, J&C Joel’s UK Sales Team – Acoustic Specialist, commented on the project: “This was a fascinating job to work on as it was so different from our usual projects. The importance of our drapes in protecting the historic artefact was a great success and accomplishment for J&C Joel.”
