Inside the lesser-known second location of the National Air and Space Museum, one exhibit stands out

A detour worth making

Many visitors to Washington, DC, head straight to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. Fewer realize the institution operates a massive second site nearby.

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, houses some of the museum’s largest artifacts, including the legendary space shuttle Discovery.

Inside the vast hangars, visitors encounter historic aircraft, pioneering spacecraft, and rare aviation icons that simply would not fit in the downtown museum.

The Udvar-Hazy Center explained

The Udvar-Hazy Center serves as a partner facility to the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. Built beside Washington Dulles International Airport, the museum resembles an enormous aircraft hangar complex.

Its two primary exhibition halls contain roughly 346,000 square feet of display space, while the entire facility spans about 760,000 square feet. Within those walls sit more than 200 aircraft and spacecraft, making it one of the largest aviation collections in the world.

Why the Smithsonian built a second museum

The downtown museum simply could not display the Smithsonian’s full aviation and space collection. Many artifacts were too large to fit inside the National Mall building. The Udvar-Hazy Center was designed specifically to showcase those giants of flight.

Oversized aircraft, massive rockets, and historically important spacecraft now have the room they need. Museum officials often describe the collection as filled with “firsts, lasts, and onlys” that shaped the history of aviation and space exploration.

What visitors should know before arriving

Like most Smithsonian museums, admission to the Udvar-Hazy Center is free. Parking currently costs $15 per vehicle before 4 p.m., though it becomes free later in the day.

Unlike the National Mall location, the Chantilly museum typically does not require timed-entry reservations.

Because it sits outside downtown Washington, the crowds are often lighter. That makes it easier for visitors to take their time exploring famous artifacts such as the space shuttle Discovery.

A museum built beside an active airport

One feature that makes the Udvar-Hazy Center unique is its location directly beside Washington Dulles International Airport.

From parts of the museum campus, visitors can watch real passenger jets taxi, take off, and land throughout the day. The proximity to a busy airport reinforces the museum’s connection to modern aviation.

While historic aircraft fill the hangars inside, the skies just outside the building continue the story of flight in real time.

The Donald D. Engen Observation Tower

A highlight of the museum campus is the Donald D. Engen Observation Tower, which rises about 164 feet above the ground. From the top, visitors get sweeping views of Dulles Airport and the surrounding air traffic.

Exhibits inside the tower explain how air traffic control systems guide aircraft safely through crowded skies.

Guests can also listen to live communications between pilots and controllers, offering a fascinating look at the coordination required to keep global aviation running smoothly.

Watching aircraft restoration in real time

Behind the main exhibition halls sits the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, where experts conserve and repair historic aircraft. The hangar’s glass walls and overhead balcony allow visitors to observe restoration work underway.

One famous project is Flak-Bait, a Martin B-26 Marauder that survived more than 200 combat missions during World War II.

Another notable aircraft at the hangar is the world’s only surviving Sikorsky JRS-1 seaplane, which was present during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Aviation icons inside the hangars

The museum’s aviation halls feature some of the most famous aircraft ever built. Among them is the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare over Hiroshima in 1945.

Nearby stands the Boeing 367-80 “Dash 80,” the prototype that led directly to the Boeing 707 jetliner.

Visitors can also see an Air France Concorde, a supersonic passenger plane that could cross the Atlantic in about three and a half hours, and once completed, the trip in under three hours.

The legendary SR-71 Blackbird

One of the most dramatic aircraft in the museum is the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest air-breathing manned jet aircraft ever flown.

Developed during the Cold War as a high-altitude reconnaissance platform, the aircraft could cruise above 85,000 feet while exceeding Mach 3.

Its distinctive black paint and sleek, needle-like shape give it an unmistakable appearance. Even among hundreds of aircraft, the Blackbird commands immediate attention inside the massive aviation hangar.

Entering the Spaceflight Gallery

After exploring the aviation halls, visitors transition into the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar, a gallery devoted to spacecraft and human spaceflight. At the entrance, one artifact immediately dominates the view: the space shuttle Discovery.

Positioned along the central sightline of the hall, the orbiter fills the entire visual field as guests enter. For many visitors, this dramatic first glimpse of the shuttle becomes one of the most memorable moments of the museum.

The sheer scale of space shuttle Discovery

Seeing Discovery in person reveals just how large the space shuttle orbiters were. The spacecraft measures roughly 122 feet long, with a 78-foot wingspan and a height of about 57 feet.

When the shuttle returned from a mission, it typically weighed about 230,000 pounds. Even inside the enormous hangar, the orbiter towers over surrounding artifacts.

Photographs rarely capture its full scale, but standing beneath the shuttle makes its size unmistakably clear.

Discovery’s historic career

Discovery flew more missions than any other shuttle in NASA’s fleet. Between 1984 and 2011, the orbiter completed 39 spaceflights and spent a total of 365 days in space.

One of its most famous missions deployed the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990. Discovery also played a key role in building the International Space Station and led NASA’s first return-to-flight mission following the Columbia disaster in 2005.

And did you know? You can touch the spacecraft that broke NASA’s monopoly at this California spaceport.

The Manned Maneuvering Unit above

Suspended above the shuttle is a remarkable piece of spaceflight history: a Manned Maneuvering Unit, or MMU. This jet-powered backpack allowed astronauts to fly freely during spacewalks without being tethered to their spacecraft.

Astronaut Bruce McCandless II famously used one during the first untethered spacewalk in 1984. Photographs of McCandless floating hundreds of feet away from the shuttle became some of the most iconic images ever captured in human space exploration.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Gavin Newsom faces criticism over California’s declining in-state oil production and fuel supplies, highlighting the contrast between technological triumphs in space and energy challenges at home.

If you could see one legendary machine in person at this museum, which would it be? Tell us in the comments.

This slideshow was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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