The National Air and Space Museum's massive Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, displays more than 300 aircraft, spacecraft and missile artifacts, plus thousands of intriguing smaller items. The center includes the ten-story-high Boeing Aviation Hangar, the 80-foot-high James S. McDonnell Space Hangar, immersive flight simulators, the Airbus IMAX Theater and the Donald D. Engen Observation Tower, which offers views of the Washington Dulles International Airport runways. A series of skywalks brings visitors nose-to-nose with the aircraft.

The Boeing Aviation Hangar

Military aviation is on the north side and civil aviation on the south.

Highlights

Visitor Overlook
Don't miss the newly opened elevated walkway that offers a spectacular view of the museum's extraordinary collection of space artifacts.

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
The fastest jet ever built, the SR-71, looms just beneath the entrance overhang.

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay
For a close-up view of the cockpit, use the center walkway.

The German Arado AR 234 B-2 Blitz (Lightning)
The world's first operational jet bomber and reconnaissance aircraft flew its first combat mission on August 2, 1944, a reconnaissance flight over the Allied beachhead in Normandy.

The Langley Aerodrome
The structurally and aerodynamically unsound aircraft was designed by Samuel P. Langley, the third Secretary of the Smithsonian. Langley attempted, but failed, to perform the first powered, heavier-than-air human flight. The aerodrome crashed on takeoff, on October 7 and December 8, 1903.

Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation
Introduced in 1951 and commonly known as the Connie, this airplane shortened transcontinental travel by an astounding five hours.

Pitts Special Little Stinker
From the center skywalk, see the tiny 15.5-foot-long airplane that was flown by renowned aerobatic pilot Betty Skelton in the late 1940s and early '50s.

"Lucky Lindy" Memorabilia
A colorful assortment of commemorative items illustrate the culture of celebrity that arose after Charles Lindbergh's famous 1927 flight.

The James S. McDonnell Space Hangar

The space hangar is organized around four themes: rocketry and missiles, human space flight, application satellites and space science.

Highlights

Space Shuttle Enterprise
NASA's 1981 test vehicle is the centerpiece of the hangar. Floating above is a space-walking astronaut wearing a manned maneuvering unit, a backpack propulsion device that gave astronauts untethered mobility outside the shuttle.

Mercury-Redstone Missile
Looking for really big stuff? Check out the 63-foot, floor-to-ceiling missile hailed as one of the most historically important developments in U.S. rocket technology. In 1961 a Mercury-Redstone rocket launched the first American into space, Alan B. Shepard.

Mars Pathfinder
See the full-scale engineering prototype of the first spacecraft to land on the surface of the Red Planet, on December 4, 1996. Pathfinder entered the planet's thin atmosphere, and was first slowed by a parachute and then rockets, before landing by bouncing on airbags.

Flight Simulators

Control the action! Try your hand at aerial combat. Seating for two, $8 per person. Or choose an adventure aboard a ride simulator and experience aviation ride films such as "Space Walk 3D," "Cosmic Coaster," "F-18 Experience," or "Wings." Seating for up to 20, $7 per person.

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