National Air and Space Museum | Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, located adjacent to Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia is an annex to the National Air and Space Museum located in Washington, D.C.  The museum contains two hangars, which exhibit thousands of aviation and space artifacts along with hundreds of air and spacecraft that could not be displayed at the museum in Washington, D.C.  It was named in honor of its major donor, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy.

In addition to the Boeing Aviation Hangar and the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar, the Udvar-Hazy Center also includes the Donald D. Engen Observation Tower, The Airbus IMAX Theatre, and the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, which allows guests to observe any restorations being made to future exhibits. 

This hangar-like museum is a wonderful place for any little flight or space enthusiast in your life.  The space is very open and perfect for any strollers that you might need to bring along.  Your visit may take anywhere from one to a few hours, depending on the age of your children and interest in air and space.  Your younger children may wander quickly from one exhibit to another, mostly enjoying the open space and looking at all the large aircrafts and the ones hanging from above in the aviation hangar.  Your older children will enjoy stopping at each interesting looking aircraft to read a little more about it. 

In either case, it’s always exciting for everyone, no matter the age or interest to head to the space hangar to see the space shuttle Discovery.  It takes up a large portion of the hangar and it’s really just amazing to see up close.  In the space hangar, you’ll also find hundreds of space artifacts behind glass display cases and satellites suspended from the rafters.

When available, the Udvar-Hazy Center also offers its young visitors some hands-on learning at their Discover Stations as well as periodic science demonstrations.  Both have been temporarily unavailable due to COVID-19. 

The center also offers either Ride or Flight Simulators.  There are height restrictions for each so it’s not for everyone.  The Flight Simulators allow you to control the action and perform 360-degree barrel rolls.

Unfortunately, the Observation Tower is temporarily closed as well.  Once visitors are allowed again, you’ll get a bird’s eye view of the surrounding city, including a view of Washington Dulles International Airport.  The kids will love to see planes take off and land at the airport from this perspective.  What isn’t so bad is also the view from the parking lot of planes taking off and landing.  They appear pretty large and up close. 

Once you’re done exploring the museum, don’t forget to stop by the restoration hangar.  You’ll have to be on the second floor to be able to look down into the hangar.  It’s neat to be able to see experts in the process of restoring an artifact. 

Overall, it’s a great museum for all ages to enjoy.  If you’ve planned to stay for a while exploring the museum, you can also check out the available times for the IMAX films.