The Smithsonian museums in the Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland areas are truly a national treasure of varied historical and contemporary relics, works, and experiences - you can literally find everything from Art-to-Zoos.
I recently had the chance to visit one of these museums for the first time - the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, a 760,000 square foot home to an aviation and outer-space-lover’s dream collection of military jets and helicopters, civilian aircraft and helicopters, and pretty much everything space.
The center is named after Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, a Hungarian-American entrepreneur who invested in aircraft leasing and made a donation to the Smithsonian Institute, leading to the creation of this museum.
His portrait greets you alongside a map of the facilities, which definitely makes it hard to imagine the sheer size of the facility.
Part of the free admission to this facility includes getting to see the Space Shuttle Discovery in its grandness as it nearly encompasses the entire hangar.
The observation deck is a must during a visit here as well and provides wide vistas of the DMV area.
Tried to capture the sheer mass of the space shuttle in this photo with a wide-view angle.
It was interesting to see many famous, pop-culture items that defied air and space, such as the Red Bull Stratos capsule.
This was also my first time seeing the Concorde in person, which was the fastest civilian aircraft at one time, with a flight time of just under three hours from London to New York.
There were also numerous military planes and helicopters from around the world and various militaries.
A major hit was the Blackbird - this is a stunning sight in person and one can imagine the power in this machine.
There were also many military jets and vehicles, ranging from air force craft to coast guard helicopters. There are also other relics such as uniforms, models, weapons, and much more.
The museum is very accessible and provides more than enough space to respect social distancing and to comfortably enjoy. There are multiple levels as well that help space things apart and also provide a different perspective of exploring the museum facilities.
The only payment made was for parking, with other items such as virtual experiences and souvenirs coming at an extra cost. There was even an IMAX movie theater here showing Top Gun for all the Tom Cruise fans.
I definitely recommend visitors to the area make the short drive out into the Virginia suburb to explore and experience all that the Air and Space museum has to offer!
I can imagine how huge it is.