MONTREAL - The Canadian Space Agency had big plans to celebrate its 20th anniversary last year.

The problem was those plans included a travelling space exhibit that was too big for its own good.

The idea was to bring Cosmomania, a 50-year retrospective of space exploration, to Canada from France where it was put together by a local museum.

It was supposed to criss-cross the country visiting museums and science centres.

But after arriving in Canada, only two cities -- Halifax and Winnipeg -- ended up hosting the show, which cost taxpayers more than 600-thousand dollars. Cosmomania was also set up briefly in May 2010, in tents, outside the Canadian Space Agency's headquarters, south of Montreal.

Emails provided under an access-to-information request show that several centres were told they couldn't present the exhibit -- or they rejected it -- because of a lack of space.