I did not have a permit to take myself and a car into Star City, so the car was left at one of the gates while we walked into the town. It's very green (or would be in the summer) and spacious. Much of the cosmonaut training is concentrated here. The museum is on the edge of the town, about 10 minutes walk from the gate. Tours normally have to be booked, but the museum curator was very helpful (and bilingual), so I got a personal tour.
The exhibits cover most of the Russian space program from its beginnings up to quite recently. The museum was started by Gagarin, because after his first flight he visited many countries and received gifts which he reckoned more properly should belong to all the people who worked to put him in space. This set a precedent, and the museum is special because most items have been donated by the cosmonauts themselves (and some astronauts). There is also great emphasis on the life of Gagarin himself.
Because the museum is in a closed city, it has some exhibits which highlight facts not commonly known to the outside world for many decades. For example, when Gagarin landed, the capsule was braked by parachute but was not designed for a gentle landing, so Gagarin was ejected at altitude and landed separately from the capsule. In the museum, there are photos and maps showing where the capsule and Gagarin landed, but for many years the world was told that he landed in his capsule, since this was necessary to claim the prize of being the first man in space, which stipulated that the astronaut must land in his vehicle.
There is no information at the museum about Russian attempts to land people on the moon, but I was given/bought a book by the curator (it was a "gift", but I had to pay $25) entitled "S.P. Korolev Space Corporation Energia" which describes the lander vehicle.
