Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Architecture and facilities

Designed by Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum, who also designed the National Air and Space Museum building, the Center required 15 years of preparation and was built by Hensel Phelps Construction Co. The exhibition areas comprise two large hangars, the 293707 sqft Boeing Aviation Hangar and the 53067 sqft James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. The Donald D. Engen Observation Tower provides a view of landing operations at adjacent Washington Dulles International Airport. The museum also contains an IMAX theater.

An expansion of the Udvar-Hazy Center is dedicated to the behind-the-scenes care of the Smithsonian's collection of aircraft, spacecraft, related artifacts and archival materials. On December 2, 2008, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center received a gift of $6 million for phase two from Airbus Americas Inc. — the largest corporate gift to the Smithsonian Institution in 2008.

The wing includes:

• The Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar — spacious enough to accommodate several aircraft at one time with a second-floor viewing area designed to give visitors a behind-the-scenes look.
• Archives — the foremost collection of documentary records of the history, science and technology of aeronautics and space flight will be housed in a single location for the first time, providing researchers with ample space and equipment.
• The Emil Buehler Conservation Laboratory — provides conservators much-needed space to develop and execute specialized preservation strategies for artifacts.
• Collections processing unit — a dedicated loading dock and specially designed secure area for initial inspection and analysis of artifacts.

A further expansion of the collections center was approved in December 2016. The addition will be made up of three additional storage modules on the south side of the building. An additional expansion of the museum space was approved on September 9, 2025; the expansion, which will be completed by 2028, will increase the museum's space by 20%, allowing for the display of numerous aircraft from the Smithsonian's collection, including the restored Flak-Bait and the newly-acquired B-17 Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby.

Collection

Main article: List of aircraft in the Smithsonian Institution

The center was opened on December 15, 2003. The Udvar-Hazy Center displays historic aviation and space artifacts, especially items too large for the National Air and Space Museum's building on the National Mall, including:

• The Enola Gay, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
• The orbital spacecraft Space Shuttle Discovery was put on public display in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar on April 19, 2012, replacing the atmospheric test vehicle, Space Shuttle Enterprise.
• A first-generation tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) that hangs directly above Discovery
• The Gemini 4 space capsule
• The Friendship 7 space capsule
• Spirit of Columbus, flown in 1964 by Jerrie Mock to become the first woman to fly solo around the world
• A Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft
• An Air France Concorde supersonic airliner
• A United States Air Force Lockheed C-121 Constellation,{{cite web | access-date= December 4, 2019 | archive-date= February 1, 2018 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180201200741/https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/lockheed-1049f-55-96-constellation | url-status= dead
• The Boeing 367-80 ("Dash-80") jet transport, which was the prototype for the KC-135 tanker and the 707 airliner
• The only surviving Bell XV-15 experimental tiltrotor craft
• A PGM-11 Redstone rocket
• A SAM-N-2 Lark like the one which scored the first successful United States surface-to-air missile interception of a flying target
• The only surviving Verville-Sperry M-1 Messenger, the USAAS's first messenger aircraft
• The Langley Aerodrome A, an early attempt at powered flight by Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley
• The Northrop N-1 experimental aircraft
• The only surviving Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the ex-Pan Am Clipper Flying Cloud
• One of two surviving German Heinkel He 219 Uhu night fighters
• The only surviving German Dornier Do 335 Pfeil fighter
• The only surviving German Horten Ho 229 prototype flying wing jet fighter/bomber
• The only surviving German Arado Ar 234 Blitz jet bomber
• The only surviving German Horten H.VI flying wing aircraft
• One of three surviving German Bachem Ba 349 Natter rocket-powered interceptors
• The only surviving Japanese Nakajima J1N1-S Gekko
• The only surviving Japanese Aichi M6A1 Seiran
• The only surviving Japanese Kyushu J7W Shinden
• One of four surviving Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighters
• One of two surviving Boeing P-26 Peashooter fighters
• A Bede BD-5, single-seat, home-built aircraft that was somewhat popular in the 1970s (5J version is the smallest crewed jet aircraft)
• The Beck-Mahoney Sorceress, known as the "winningest" racing biplane in aviation history
• A British Hawker Hurricane fighter
• A Japanese balloon bomb like the one that killed six U.S. civilians in Oregon during World War II
• Lockheed Martin X-35 Joint Strike Fighter, prototype of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
• A balloon of the Soviet Vega probes to Venus, the first aircraft flown in another planet
• Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter involved in the Gulf of Sidra incident (1989).
• The Gossamer Albatross, which was the first man-powered aircraft to fly across the English Channel
• The primary special-effects miniature of the "Mothership" used in the filming of Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• The Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer piloted by Steve Fossett for the first solo nonstop and nonrefueled circumnavigation of Earth
• The first aircraft operated by FedEx, a Dassault Falcon 20
• A piece of fabric from the LZ 129 Hindenburg that survived the Hindenburg disaster.
• Universal's filming model of the LZ 129 Hindenburg from The Hindenburg.
• Mercury-Atlas 10 unused Project Mercury spacecraft
• U.S. Coast Guard Sikorsky HH-52 Seaguard helicopter
• A Sikorsky JRS-1 twin-engine aircraft, one of only three surviving aircraft from the Attack on Pearl Harbor
• A Launch Entry Suit
• A Vought RF-8 Crusader reconnaissance aircraft
• A McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantom II fighter
• A Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighter
• The NASA Pathfinder, an early solar powered aircraft
• A Piasecki PV-2 helicopter
• A French Caudron G.4 bomber
• A German Focke-Wulf Fw 190F fighter/bomber
• A British Westland Lysander Army cooperation aircraft
• A CASA 352L transport
• A Republic F-105D Thunderchief fighter-bomber
• A Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter
• Darryl Greenamyer's Grumman F8F Bearcat "Conquest I" racing aircraft
• The North American P-51C Mustang "Excalibur III" fighter
• A North American F-86 Sabre fighter
• A Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter
• A Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter
• A Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 "Fishbed" fighter
• A Beechcraft Bonanza
• A Beechcraft Model 18
• A Bell 47 helicopter
• A Bell H-13 Sioux helicopter
• A Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter
• A Boeing-Stearman Model 75 biplane trainer aircraft
• A Grumman A-6E Intruder ground-attack aircraft
• A Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk fighter
• A Vought F4U-1D Corsair fighter
• A Piper J-3 Cub
• A Grumman G-22 Gulfhawk II
• An Aeronca C-2 ultralight aircraft
• The Stanley Nomad glider
• An Arrow Sport A2
• A Space Systems/Loral FS-1300 communications satellite, previously a ground spare for Sirius Satellite Radio
• The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission payload that flew on STS-99.
• Bob Hoover's Shrike Commander
• Gondola of Breitling Orbiter 3,{{cite web | access-date= December 7, 2019 | archive-date= July 6, 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160706094536/https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/gondola-breitling-orbiter-3 | url-status= dead
• Gondola C-49 of Goodyear Blimp Columbia (N4A), class GZ-20, and Gondola of Goodyear Pilgrim{{cite web | access-date= December 7, 2019 | archive-date= December 7, 2019 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191207080543/https://corporate.goodyear.com/en-US/media/news/Goodyear-Blimp-Gondola-Goes-to-Smithsonian-1426100375510.html | url-status= dead | access-date= December 7, 2019 | archive-date= December 7, 2019 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191207080438/https://airandspace.si.edu/events/airships-land-udvar-hazy-center | url-status= live
• A Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka kamikaze aircraft
• A Pegasus XL air-launched rocket.
• A General Atomics MQ-1 Predator which was one of the first three UAVs to fly combat missions over Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks
• Foam 331, an Oshkosh airport crash tender which was among the emergency vehicles which responded to The Pentagon after it was attacked on 9/11

The museum is still in the process of installing exhibits, and 169 aircraft and 152 large space artifacts were on display as of May 2012; Over 5,809 objects out of the 60,000 objects held in trust are on display as of 2016. The current list is maintained at the Objects On Display page of the Smithsonian Institution NASM Collections site.

Events

A number of events are held at the museum throughout the year. These include lectures, book signings, sleepovers, and events for children. Some of the museum's larger events include Air & Scare for Halloween, an open house, and Innovations in Flight: Family Day and Outdoor Aviation Display.

Media appearances

The center made its first media appearance in the 2009 film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The center remained open while filming took place, although certain areas were closed.

Gallery

File:DiscoveryUdvarHazy.jpg|The Space Shuttle Discovery File:Enola gay 20040710 170220 1.4.jpg|The Enola Gay File:SR71ZBlackbird.JPG|A Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird File:Gemini VII capsule.tif|The Gemini VII space capsule File:Concorde F-BVFA.JPG|An Air France Concorde F-BVFA File:Dash80 large.jpg|From top to bottom: Grumman G-22 Gulfhawk II, Piper J-3 Cub, North American P-51C Mustang, Boeing 367-80, and Bowlus BA-100 Baby Albatross. File:North American P-51D Mustang Willit Run? at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, 3 February 2024.jpg|The National Air And Space Museum's P-51D Mustang Willit Run?, undergoing restoration work at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center after being temporarily moved from the DC museum while the latter was being renovated. File:Spirit of Columbus in Udvar-Hazy Center, February 2015.JPG|In 1964 Jerrie Mock became the first woman to fly solo around the world. Her plane, the Spirit of Columbus, hangs in the Center. File:Restored Ilyushin IL-2.jpg|Ilyushin Il-2 and Martin B-26 Marauder Flak-Bait (background)

References

References

1. "Visitor Statistics". Smithsonian Newsdesk.
2. Small, Lawrence M.. (December 2003). "A Century's Roar and Buzz: Thanks to an immigrant's generosity, the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center opens its massive doors to the public".
3. "Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center History".
4. Triplett, W. "Hold everything!" ''Smithsonian''. Vol. 34, December 2003, p. 59.
5. (2004). "Building America's hangar: the design and construction of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center". Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum.
6. Irvine, Madison. (October 11, 2017). "Experience the History of Wartime Aviation at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center". Argunners Magazine | Military War History Website.
7. link. (January 11, 2009)
8. (December 1, 2016). "Commission Action".
9. (December 1, 2016). "Executive Director's Recommendation".
10. (2025-09-08). "National Air and Space Museum Expands Its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center".
11. Williams, Debbie. (2025-09-09). "Chantilly's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Is Expanding".
12. "National Air and Space Museum Press Kit: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Fact Sheet". Smithsonian Institution.
13. (April 17, 2012). "Space Shuttle Discovery Flies to the Smithsonian". Smithsonian Nationalk Air and Space Museum.
14. [http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/dornier_do335.htm Dornier Do-335] {{webarchive. link. (May 17, 2007)
15. "General Atomics MQ-1L Predator A {{!}} National Air and Space Museum".
16. Magazine, Smithsonian. "First-Responder Rescue Truck From 9/11 Goes on Display at the National Air and Space Museum".
17. (April 27, 2016). "Collections".
18. "Events {{!}} National Air and Space Museum".
19. "Air & Scare {{!}} National Air and Space Museum".
20. "Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Open House {{!}} National Air and Space Museum".
21. "Family Day and Outdoor Aviation Display - Innovations in Flight Aircraft Display".
22. Keith Knight. (June 7, 2008). "More High-Fliers at Air & Space". The Washington Post.