The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is a large aerospace museum that serves as an annex of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Located in Chantilly, Virginia, this museum boasts one of the most impressive collections of spacecraft and aircraft anywhere in the world.
The highlight of the museum is the Space Shuttle Discovery. When we visited in late 2011, the test Space Shuttle Enterprise was on display, but it has since been relocated to New York. The museum is also home to an Air France Concorde, the only surviving Boeing 307, and the Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II.
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center opened in 2003 as a companion facility to the Smithsonian’s main Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. Its creation was driven by the need for additional space to house large aircraft and artifacts that couldn’t be displayed in the smaller downtown museum. Named after Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, an aviation entrepreneur whose generous donation helped fund its construction, the center has become a premier destination for aviation enthusiasts and history buffs alike.
