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National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall
Credit: Photo by Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
The National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. has hundreds of historic artifacts on display representing milestones in air and space exploration. The museum opened on July 1, 1976, and includes a planetarium and IMAX theater. In 2003, the museum added the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center located in northern Virginia, featuring space for many larger air- and spacecraft. Space Shuttle Discovery is the newest exciting exhibit, but many other rare objects fill the museum as well. Plan a visit using information at airandspace.si.edu.
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Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Credit: Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport is the companion facility to the Museum on the National Mall. The building opened in December, 2003, and provides enough space for the Smithsonian to display the thousands of aviation and space artifacts that cannot be exhibited on the National Mall. The two sites together showcase the largest collection of aviation and space artifacts in the world.
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Front View of Discovery in Udvar-Hazy Center
Credit: Dane Penland/Smithsonian Institution
Space Shuttle Discovery on display in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.
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Milestones of Flight, Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum
Credit: Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
The Museum's entry hall, Milestones of Flight showcases a collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft that represent epic achievements in aviation and space flight.
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SpaceShipOne Donated to Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum
Credit: Photo by Eric Long/OIPP, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
SpaceShipOne, the first privately built and piloted vehicle to reach space, hangs between Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, left, and Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1, above right, in the Milestones of Flight in the National Air and Space Museum's building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
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50 Years of Spaceflight: Astronauts Ponder the State of Exploration
Credit: Eric Long/National Air and Space Museum.
Sputnik replica on display in the Milestones of Flight at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
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Key Parts Returned from Hubble Telescope Now on Display at Smithsonian
Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on display under a full scale model of the Hubble Space Telescope. These artifacts reside in the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
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Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia in Milestones of Flight
Credit: Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
The Apollo 11 command module Columbia carried astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins to the moon and back in July 1969. During that historic eight-day mission, only 66 years after the Wright brothers' first flight, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk upon the surface of another world.
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John Glenn and Friendship 7
Former Senator John Glenn with his wife Annie as photographed standing next to Glenn's Mercury spacecraft, Friendship 7, at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC on Feb. 20, 2002.
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Comet Capture Capsule Goes on Display
Credit: Eric Long/NASM
After a three billion-mile journey to rendezvous with a comet, the Stardust return capsule joins the national collection of flight icons at the National Air and Space Museum.
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Mr. Hubble Fix-It
John Grunsfeld — who flew on three missions to repair the Hubble Space Telescope — stands with several Hubble telescope artifacts at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
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The Original Starship Enterprise
Credit: National Air and Space Museum
This model of the fictional starship Enterprise was used in the weekly hourlong “Star Trek” TV series that aired September 1966 to June 1969. The model was donated to the National Air and Space Museum in 1974. The iconic prop now resides (rather ignominiously) in the lower level of the museum store, among the sale items.
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Imax Camera Donated to Smithsonian
Credit: NASA/Paul E. Alers
An IMAX camera that flew aboard the space shuttle is seen at the “Moving Beyond Earth” gallery at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, April 4, 2012, in Washington, D.C. This and another IMAX camera that flew in space became a part of the museum's collection.
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Smithsonian Bracelet
Credit: Photo by Eric Long, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
A bracelet in the collection of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum belonged to Toni Foster, wife of an engineer who helped build the Mercury and Gemini space capsules.
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Tuskegee Airmen at the Museum's Family Day
Credit: Mark Avino, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Visitors listen to Tuskegee Airmen, and their descendents, tell of the challenges and triumphs as members of this groundbreaking African American World War II fighter group.
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Margaret Weitekamp at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum
Credit: Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Space History curator Margaret Weitekamp talks to a young visitor at the Women in Aviation & Space Family Day. Celebration of Women's History Month, March 8, 2008 at the Smithsonain National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
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Boeing Aviation Hangar Entrance
Credit: Mark Avino, Smithsonian Institution
The overlook at the entrance to the Boeing Aviation Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
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Boeing Aviation Hangar
Credit: Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
The Boeing Aviation Hangar at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is the length of three football fields and 10 stories high.
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Space Shuttle Discovery Flies over the Udvar-Hazy Center
Credit: Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Space Shuttle Discovery flies over its new home, the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on April 17, 2012. Discovery is going on permanent display at the Center after a welcome ceremony on April 19.
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Shuttle Discovery Flies Over Smithsonian Museum Home
Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz
Space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) flies over the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Tuesday, April 17, 2012, in Washington. NASA will transfer Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum to begin its new mission to commemorate past achievements in space and to educate and inspire future generations of explorers.
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Shuttle Discovery Flies Over Smithsonian Museum Home
Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi
Spectators watch as space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) flies over the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Tuesday, April 17, 2012, in Chantilly, Va. More than 6,000 spectators turned out to welcome Discovery to its museum home.
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Space Shuttle Discovery Lands at Dulles Airport
Credit: Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Space Shuttle Discovery, mounted on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, lands at Washington-Dulles International Airport at 11:05 am on April 17, 2012. Its new home, the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, is in the background.
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Space Shuttle Discovery on Display
Credit: Mark Avino, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Space Shuttle Discovery on display in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA on April 20, 2012. Discovery was installed on April 19, 2012.
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Two Amazing Flying Machines: Lockheed SR-71 and Space Shuttle Enterprise
Credit: Dane Penland, Smithsonian Institution
Shown in this 2006 photo are two of the most popular artifacts at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (foreground) in the Boeing Aviation Hangar and Space Shuttle Enterprise (background) in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. Enterprise was replaced by Space Shuttle Discovery in 2012.
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Neil Armstrong's Gloves & Visor Neil Armstrong's Gloves & Visor — Apollo 11 Artifacts Apollo 11 Artifacts
Credit: Smithsonian Institution / Dane Penland
The extra-vehicular (EV) gloves and lunar visor assembly worn by Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon are temporarily on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia in honor of his death.
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HEXAGON Spysat Rear Engine View
Credit: Roger Guillemette/SPACE.com
A close look at the rear engine used on the National Reconnaissance Office's HEXAGON spy satellites during a display at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, Va., on Sept. 17, 2011.
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Giant HEXAGON Spy Satellite Revealed
Credit: Roger Guillemette/SPACE.com
The massive KH-9 Hexagon spy satellite on display at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, after being declassified on Sept. 17, 2011. Longer than a school bus at 60 feet in length and weighing 30,000 pounds at launch, 20 KH-9 Hexagons were launched by the National Reconnaissance Office between 1971 and 1986.
