Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

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<National Air and Space Museum

Image:Concorde-udvar-hazy.jpg Image:Shuttle-challenger-udvar-hazy.jpg The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia. As the NASM continued to collect aircraft, it long ago outgrew its primary facility in crowded downtown Washington, D.C.

Opened in December 2003, the Udvar-Hazy Center displays historic aviation and space artifacts, particularly items too large for the National Air and Space Museum's building on the National Mall, including

• the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
• the Space Shuttle Enterprise
• the Gemini VII capsule
• an SR-71 Blackbird
• an Air France Concorde supersonic jetliner
• the Boeing 367-80 jet transport, which was the prototype for the Boeing 707
• the Langley Aerodrome A, an attempt at powered flight by Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley
• a Bede BD-5, a single-seat, homebuilt aircraft that was somewhat popular in the 1970s

Image:StevenFUdvarHazy.png

The Center was made possible by a US$ 65 million gift in October 1999 to the Smithsonian Institution by Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, an immigrant from Hungary and co-founder of the International Lease Finance Corporation (Small, 2003). Construction of the Center required fifteen years of preparation (Triplett, 2003).

The museum is in the process of installing exhibits, but more than 120 aircraft and 140 space-exploration exhibits are already on display, and plans call for eventually installing over 200 aircraft.

See also

• Aviation
• Space exploration

External links

• Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center site
• Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Photo Gallery
• Aerial view on google maps of partially completed building

Photo Gallery

MiG 15 of the type piloted by Polish defector Frank Jarecki	The Enola Gay	Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird	Air France Concorde
Interior view showing the Enola Gay	The space shuttle Enterprise	The SR-71 at the center of the hangar	Interior view
Air France Concorde	Panorama from the central catwalk