VISITORS to London’s renowned Science Museum now have the chance to boldly go and discover strange new worlds and civilisations – as science fiction steals the show.

Described as the museum’s “most ambitious exhibition yet”, Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination, includes an adventure that is, quite literally, out of this world.

Visitors board an extra-terrestrial spaceship and, accompanied by an AI guide, are transported to an unexplored world where they can gaze back over beautiful blue planet Earth.

Designed by Oscar and BAFTA Award-winning studio Framestore, in collaboration with P&P Projects, the immersive experience is the headline act of an exhibition boasting a host of sci-fi memorabilia and real-life innovations.

Visitors enter the vast Exploration Deck of the spaceship, filled with iconic items ranging from a replica of the Apollo 17 Space Suit worn by Gene Cernan – the last man on the moon – to aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Read more: Kennedy Space Center offers virtual galaxy quest

Doctor Who’s dastardly Daleks are here, there’s a first edition of Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon, and a replica of Star Trek‘s USS Enterprise signed by George (Mr Sulu) Takei and Nichelle Nichols, whose iconic Uhura costume is on show too.

There’s the hypersleep chamber from Alien prequel Prometheus, a gold spacesuit from Sunshine and a Pan African Flag and Traveller Suit from Larry Achiampong’s Relic Traveller series.

The ship’s Bio Lab explores how science fiction imagines the evolution and replication of the human form through the depiction of cyborgs, AI and gene editing.

Look out for everything from the Maschinenmensch from Fritz Lang’s classic movie Metropolis and Frankenstein’s monster to Forbidden Planet’s Robby the Robot, Darth Vader’s helmet and Iron Man’s marvellous armour.

Read more: Flashback to Star Wars exhibition at the O2

Real-life exhibits here include bionic prosthetic arms, the  smallest ever pacemaker and the DxtER medical diagnostic unit, which was inspired by the medical tricorder used by Star Trek’s Doctor Leonard McCoy.

Throughout the ship, an alien language developed specially for the exhibition can be seen. Called Bhaux, it looks mechanical, as if it was generated by a machine intelligence, and has a unique vocabulary of a few thousand words.

Next is an away mission, using a wormhole jump gate to visit a strange subterranean world where beautiful bioluminescent creatures interact with visitors. 

You end your journey overlooking Earth through a huge window from the Observation Deck. Few have savoured this unique view from space, a moment to reflect on our place in the universe and the planet we call home.

Read more: Inside the Matrix – mindbending Tokyo exhibition

Sir Ian Blatchford, Director and Chief Executive of the Science Museum Group, says: “Science fiction invites us all to be explorers, venturing across time and space while reflecting on the deepest existential question there is – what makes us human?

“Our ambitious exhibition is unlike any other and I cannot wait for visitors to join us on this immersive and interactive journey through the extraordinary worlds of science fiction and scientific discovery.”

Running alongside the exhibition will be science fiction-themed live events including late nights, sleepovers, live music, panel discussions and, on October 26, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, celebrating the best in science fiction writing.

Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination runs at the Science Museum until May 4, 2023. Tickets, priced from £16.20, are  available here.