Washington DC’s Smithsonian Institutions boasts the largest number of (FREE!) museums and among the top of the most visited list is the National Air & Space Museum.
But did you know that beyond the National Mall location, the Air & Space Museum has a second location full of historic aircrafts and spacecrafts? Located near Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is a short trip from the Washington DC sites, but a must-do for any history or air/space craft buff.
The Udvar-Hazy Center features thousands of aviation and space artifacts across two huge hangers including some of the world’s most iconic aircrafts and spacecrafts around. The Center opened 2003 to hold the artifacts deemed too large for the main Air & Space museum, the Center was further expanded in 2008 to include a restoration hanger, archives, and other conservation space.
There is so much to see so join us as we explore all things human space flight including the most traveled space shuttle Discovery. The Udvar-Hazy Center is home to countless pre-1920s crafts mirrored from the iconic Wright brothers first craft. Its amazing to step back in time to see the planes that started it all! Jon made sure to see the trick and acrobatic planes before checking out the suit Alan Eustace used in his historic free-fall from the Earth’s stratosphere. From there, we compare the Concorde, the fastest (and most expensive!) commercial plane to the Mignet, a hobbiest dream, a DIY build and fly plane that didnt last too long because of safety concerns.
We end our time stepping back to World War II to see some Japanese and German planes before stopping to take in the infamous Enola Gay B-29 while controversial, its hard not to reflect on its mission and how society changed because of it.
Come with us as we explore the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center!
Aircraft we highlight:
▫️ Discovery Space Shuttle
▫️ Gemini IV Capsule
▫️ Mercury Friendship 7
▫️ Apollo 11 Command Module
▫️ Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
▫️ Curtiss N-98 seaplane
▫️ Caudron G.4 French biplane
▫️ Concorde
▫️ Mignet HM.14 Pou du Ciel “La Cucaracha”
▫️ Aichi M6A1 Seiran (Clear Sky Storm)
▫️ Heinkel He 219 A-2/R4 Uhu (Eagle Owl)
▫️ Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay
More information:
▫️ Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: https://airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center
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#smithsonian #udvarhazy #airandspace #museum #museumtour #smithsonianmuseum #airplane #airplanes #aircraft #spacecrafts #spacecraft #spaceshuttle #blackbird #warplanes #ww2planes #enolagay #dmv #washingtondc #thingstodo #traveltips #nationalparkservice #history #historyfacts #historicplanes
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⏱️Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
0:33 Human Spaceflight | Discovery Shuttle
1:44 Lockheed Blackbird | World’s Fastest Plane
2:14 Early Flight
3:13 Observation Tower | Best views of Dulles and Virginia?
3:36 Restoration Hanger
4:11 Acrobatic Aircraft
4:42 World Record Free Fall | Alan Eustace
5:19 Concorde + La Cucaracha | Fastest vs. Smallest Passenger Flights
6:11 WW2 Warplanes
7:53 The Infamous Enola Gay
8:41 Closing
9:18 Bloopers
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🎵 Music
▫️ Above Planets – Patrick Patrikios
▫️ Go on the Go – Chris Haugen
▫️ Warzone – Anno Domini Beats
▫️ Life is Good – Magic in the Other
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🎞️Top Playlists
▫️ National Park Service Sites:
▫️ Spring Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgk1Cy0Evwqolf1pOELcOYDbTibgsgyu0
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Hello, fellow adventure seekers! We’re Jon and Andrea—part-time travelers and full-time adventurers. 🌎 Join us as we explore interesting places around the world. We are balancing full-time jobs so many of our adventures are East Coast based, but we’re always looking to get out of our backyard!
We love:
▪️ Travel tips: we love sharing the dos and font’s of travel so our mistakes aren’t yours!
▪️ New experiences: follow us if you ever thought “I wonder what _____ is like” because our goal is find out and share it with you!
▪️ Finding wonder and awe in the world: Cheesy? Absolutely! But no less true in how we visit and experience new places.
We look forward to exploring the world with you!
4 Comments
The Air & Space Museum is full of iconic and infamous air and space craft, but we most loved exploring the history of flight. What do you think, what was your favorite?
The Air France Concorde! I was having after-work dinner/drinks with some colleagues in the Chantilly, VA, area, when we witnessed the Concorde landing at Dulles International Airport for the last time, ending an era of super-sonic air travel. Memories like that stay with one forever. Second: Gemini IV space capsule – again, memories of my formative youth abound with rockets and space capsules, and the brave men who ventured into space. Third: the Alan Eustace space suit – agreed that there is no way I'd ever attempt that. NOVA had an episode where his "flight" and the suit were featured. I highly recommend the episode, though I imagine intrepid travelers like yourselves have already seen it. Thanks for sharing. Be well. Safe journeys.
My all time favorite place to go 😊
Love this place! It’s so easy to miss this since it’s not on the mall itself. Also black bird traveling cross continent in an hour?! Dreams 😂