DC DUers: The new Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center

[Skinner]

We had family in town this weekend, and we drove out to the suburbs to visit the new Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center. It was well worth the trip.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy

I am so tired of the Air & Space Museum on the Mall in DC. I've seen it a million times. It's always super crowded and the exhibits haven't changed in years. But the new Udvar-Hazy Center is very cool. It's giant... with enough room to fit the Concorde, the Enola Gay, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the Space Shuttle.

That's right... The Space Shuttle. For my money, this is one of the coolest things you can see in the DC area.



Very cool.

[Jara sang]

1. That place is cool

I went there last summer with my nephew and brother-in-law. There were big chunks missing from the wing section of the Enterprise, they were apparently doing tests on it to find out what happened to Columbia. The SR-71 was really cool. The other aircraft were really amazing as well. Were you able to go in the Space Shuttle? You couldn't when I went and I was wondering if they were ever going to let people go in.

[Skinner]

2. No, we couldn't go in the space shuttle.

But we were able to walk all around it. I was surprised that we could get so close.

[Ready4Change]

3. 1 of my 4 favorite air museums.

I still love the Air and Space Museum on the Mall in DC. Yes its over crowded during tourist season. Yes, many of the displays haven't been freshened since it opened. But a museum isn't about the museum, it's about the contents. To me airplanes, like art, are timeless. You can't freshen the historic nature of preserved planes like the Spirit of St Louis, the X-1, the X-15, or the "original" Wright Flyer.

The new Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles continues the tradition. Further, it has the room for really large planes that wouldn't fit into the facilities on the Mall. Lots of significant aircraft in there.

If you're in Ohio, stop by the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum in Dayton. If you're into military aviation, you'll find whatever you want represented there. The last XB-70? (It's frigging HUGE!) A B-58 "Hustler?" (Hot rod bomber.) An F-86 side by side with a Mig-15. It just goes on and on...

And lastly, I love the EAAs museum in Oshkosh, WI. The other 3 museums display the products of industrial aviation. But the EAA has on display a great many significant aircraft that only exist due to perhaps one persons love and devotion to flight. The other museums are machines, built by machines. EAA's examples have that human touch, and shows a vital side of aviation largely ignored by the "heavier" museums. Not to be missed.

[northzax]

4. yes, it is

shame its so hard to get to!

the thing I dislike about the Mall one is not the stuff, that's great, but that the exhibits are the cream of 1970's techonolgy, very cheesy futuristic. Maybe they'll fix tht in '07 (A&S is due to be closed in 2007 for several years of renovation, they're starting with American History this fall, closed until july '07) but that may just be a bad rumour...