The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s annex located at the Washington Dulles International Airport. If you are ever in the area or have a layover at IAD you must go! This place was amazing! Admission is free (although if you choose to drive the parking is $15/vehicle) and there is a shuttle bus that runs between the museum and airport. The Smithsonian has always had more artifacts than could be displayed at the main Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC, so this 760,000 sq ft facility was established as a space to display historic aviation and space artifacts, especially those too large to fit in the National Air and Space Museum’s building on the National Mall. The space consists of two large airplane hangars and an observation tower to view the landings at Dulles. You may recognize the facility if you’ve ever seen Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
We got to see one of the center’s newest additions, the Space Shuttle Discovery. Last April, I had the chance to watch the Discovery make its last flight over the National Mall from the rooftop at GW!
