In the year that will mark 50 years since man first walked on the Moon, a rare display of spacesuits is helping take people back in time to experience some of what the landing was like.

A world-first arrangement of suits from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions stand out among the 250 items on show for NASA – A Human Experience at the Queensland Museum.

Curator Jukka Nurminen said seeing them would be as close to the Moon as most of us would get.

The suits for the (from left) Apollo, Gemini and Mercury space missions, as well as an air force g-suit used by pilots to prevent a loss of consciousness under extreme acceleration. ( Supplied: NASA )

"Items of the suits are both space and Moon-flown, meaning they have been in space and some on the Moon," he said.

"They are the most unique collection we have, and nowhere in the world can you see all the space suits that have been used in manned space flight.

"It is very rare to see them lined up together like they are here in Brisbane."

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 8 seconds 1 m 8 s Take a tour of the NASA – A Human Experience ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Hailey Renault )

Peeling back the layers

One amazing item on display is the cutaway Apollo moon suit that exposes all its 11 layers.

"It shows the layers needed and the necessary sophistication of the suits for man to be able to walk on the Moon," Mr Nurminen said.

"The display shows the urine-transfer assembly worn by Commander Thomas Stafford at the time.

"Our records don't show if he wore it on his Apollo 10 mission or if he wore it in 1975 on a mission where the Americans and Soviets met in space for the first time."

The suits contained many layers for such things as cooling devices. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Jessica Hinchliffe )

Tubes fitted within the suits allowed liquid to move through and balance the temperature differences, keeping the astronauts warm — but not too hot.

Another suit, worn by Commander David Scott during the Apollo 15 Moon landing in 1971, is on show, complete with socks, boots and helmet.

"People don't realise how heavy they were or high-tech they were for their time," Mr Nurminen said.

"The technology they created to make the trips successful is amazing and you can see just how intricate the suits were."

The helmet and gloves worn by astronauts during the Apollo missions. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Jessica Hinchliffe )

To the Moon and back

More than 90 per cent of the exhibition contains genuine space equipment — the remainder are replicas or models.

"My favourite part is definitely the spacesuits, as well as the spacecraft replicators — especially the Mercury capsule which is so well made," Mr Nurminen said.

"Seven items, including the spacesuits, have been on the Moon from the Apollo space missions.

"In the Apollo command module, it has original seats and a panel which has been to the Moon and in the lunar orbit."

A full-sized replica of the Gemini spacecraft contains some of the original equipment. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Jessica Hinchliffe )

Mr Nurminen said people had long been fascinated by how things worked in space.

"People want to know how humans can survive in space," he said.

"They want to learn about the daily things that they need, and they draw a lot of attention to things like how they cook, clean and do day-to-day tasks."

Jukka Nurminen travels with his family's exhibition around the world. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Jessica Hinchliffe )

Enduring fascination with space

Queensland Museum chief executive Jim Thompson said it was the biggest exhibition it had hosted and took more than a month to assemble.

"I hope it brings people in to see how history was made at that time and the amazing human achievements that were around at that period," he said.

"The things astronauts went through at that time and the scales of spacecraft they were in is quite phenomenal.

"I've never had so many people talk to me about things the museum is doing on the back of their interest in space."

The spacesuits required several different inputs. ( ABC Radio Brisbane: Jessica Hinchliffe )

Mr Thompson said it was a great opportunity to present both cultural history and science in the one space.

"It's seeing the evolution and history of space as well as seeing how each astronaut went up.

"None of them had any room — it's like a very small economy-class seat and it's amazing to see how they were able to achieve that incredible journey."

The exhibition is part of the World Science Festival and will run until October 9.