The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at

Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and Fa ...

in the

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France *Chantilly, Oise, a city located in the Oise department **US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly, a historic château located in the town of Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missou ...

area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous exhibits, including the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'', the '' Enola Gay'', and the

Boeing 367-80 The Boeing 367-80, known simply as the Dash 80, is an American quadjet prototype aircraft built by Boeing to demonstrate the advantages of jet propulsion for commercial aviation. It served as basis for the design of the KC-135 tanker and the 70 ...

, the prototype for the popular Boeing 707 airliner. The facility was made possible by a $65 million donation in October 1999 to the Smithsonian Institution by

Steven F. Udvar-Házy Steven Ferencz Udvar–Házy (; born 1946), also known as István or Steve Hazy, is an American billionaire businessman and the executive chairman of Air Lease Corporation. He is the former chairman and CEO of International Lease Finance Corpor ...

, an immigrant from Hungary and co-founder of the

International Lease Finance Corporation The International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) was an aircraft lessor headquartered in the Constellation Place in Century City, Los Angeles, California, US. It was the world's largest aircraft lessor by value, though ILFC's rival, General El ...

, an

aircraft leasing Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempor ...

corporation.Small, L. M. "A century's roar and buzz: Thanks to an immigrant's generosity, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center opens to the public". In "From the Secretary". ''Smithsonian''. Vol. 34, p. 20. The main NASM building, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., had always contained more artifacts than could be displayed, and most of the collection had been stored, unavailable to visitors, at the

Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility The Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility, also known colloquially as "Silver Hill", is a storage and former conservation and restoration facility of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, located in Suitland, Ma ...

in Silver Hill,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. A substantial addition to the center encompassing restoration, conservation and collection-storage facilities was completed in 2010. Restoration facilities and museum archives were moved from the museum's Garber facility to the new sections of the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Architecture and facilities

Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum HOK, formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum and legally HOK Group, Inc., is an American design, architecture, engineering, and urban planning firm, founded in 1955. As of 2018, HOK is the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering f ...

, 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.Triplett, W. "Hold everything!" ''Smithsonian''. Vol. 34, December 2003, p. 59. The exhibition areas comprise two large

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

s, the

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

Aviation Hangar and the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. The Donald D. Engen Observation Tower provides a view of landing operations at adjacent

. The museum also contains an IMAX theater. A

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...

connects the museum to the airport. 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 Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...

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. Panorama of the interior of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Panorama of the interior of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Collection

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 is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama Prefecture to the ...

* The orbital spacecraft

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

Space Shuttle Discovery Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' ( Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to S ...

'' was put on public display in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar on April 19, 2012, replacing the atmospheric test vehicle, ''

Space Shuttle Enterprise Space Shuttle ''Enterprise'' ( Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-101) was the first orbiter of the Space Shuttle system. Rolled out on September 17, 1976, it was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform atmospheric test fl ...

''. * A first-generation

tracking and data relay satellite A tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) is a type of communications satellite that forms part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) used by NASA and other United States government agencies for communications to and fro ...

(TDRS) that hangs directly above ''

'' * The

Gemini 7 Gemini 7 (officially Gemini VII) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was a 1965 crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the fourth crewed Gemini flight, the twelfth crewed American spacefl ...

space capsule * A Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft * An

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

supersonic airliner * A United States Air Force

Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation is an American aircraft, a member of the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line. The L-1049 was Lockheed's response to the successful Douglas DC-6 airliner, first flying in 1950. The aircraft was also produc ...

, the military version of the

Lockheed Constellation The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") is a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner built by Lockheed Corporation starting in 1943. The Constellation series was the first pressurized-cabin civil airliner series to go into widespread use. Its press ...

("Connie") airliner * The

("Dash-80") jet transport, which was the prototype for the

KC-135 The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transpo ...

tanker and the 707 airliner * The only surviving Bell XV-15 experimental tiltrotor craft * A

PGM-11 Redstone The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), it was in active service with the United States Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of W ...

rocket * A

SAM-N-2 Lark The Lark project was a solid-fuel boosted, liquid-fueled surface-to-air missile developed by the United States Navy to meet the kamikaze threat. It was developed as a crash program to introduce a medium-range defensive layer that would attack ta ...

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 Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22, 1834 – February 27, 1906) was an American aviation pioneer, astronomer and physicist who invented the bolometer. He was the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and a professor of astronomy a ...

* The Northrop N-1 experimental aircraft * The only surviving

Boeing 307 Stratoliner The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner (or Strato-Clipper in Pan American service, or C-75 in USAAF service) is an American stressed-skin four-engine low-wing tailwheel monoplane airliner derived from the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, which entered co ...

, the ex-

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

''Clipper Flying Cloud'' * One of two surviving German

Heinkel He 219 The Heinkel He 219 ''Uhu'' ("Eagle-Owl") is a night fighter that served with the German Luftwaffe in the later stages of World War II. A relatively sophisticated design, the He 219 possessed a variety of innovations, including Lichtenstein SN ...

''Uhu''

night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...

s * The only surviving German

Dornier Do 335 The Dornier Do 335 ''Pfeil'' ("Arrow") was a heavy fighter built by Dornier for Germany during World War II. The two-seater trainer version was called ''Ameisenbär'' ("anteater"). The ''Pfeil''s performance was predicted to be better than other ...

''Pfeil'' fighter * The only surviving German

Horten Ho 229 The Horten H.IX, RLM designation Ho 229 (or Gotha Go 229 for extensive re-design work done by Gotha to prepare the aircraft for mass production) was a German prototype fighter/bomber initially designed by Reimar and Walter Horten to be built ...

prototype flying wing jet fighter/

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...

* The only surviving German

Arado Ar 234 The Arado Ar 234 ''Blitz'' (English: lightning) is a jet-powered bomber designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Arado. It was the world's first operational turbojet-powered bomber, seeing service during the latter half of the ...

''Blitz'' jet bomber * The only surviving German

Horten H.VI The Horten H.VI was a flying wing aircraft designed by the Horten brothers during World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the ...

flying wing aircraft * One of three surviving German

Bachem Ba 349 The Bachem Ba 349 Natter ( en, Colubrid, grass-snake) was a World War II German point-defence rocket-powered interceptor, which was to be used in a very similar way to a manned surface-to-air missile. After a vertical take-off, which eliminate ...

''Natter'' rocket-powered interceptors * The only surviving Japanese

Nakajima J1N The is a twin-engine aircraft used by the Japanese Imperial Navy during World War II and was used for reconnaissance, night fighter, and ''kamikaze'' missions. The first flight took place in May 1941. It was given the Allied reporting name "Irvi ...

1-S ''Gekko'' * The only surviving Japanese Aichi M6A1 ''Seiran'' * The only surviving Japanese

Kyushu J7W The Kyūshū J7W ''Shinden'' (震電, "Magnificent Lightning") was a World War II Japanese propeller-driven prototype fighter with wings at the rear of the fuselage, a nose-mounted canard, and pusher engine. Developed by the Imperial Ja ...

''Shinden'' * One of four surviving

Northrop P-61 Black Widow The Northrop P-61 Black Widow is a twin-engine United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft of World War II. It was the first operational U.S. warplane designed as a night fighter, and the first aircraft designed specifically as a night figh ...

night fighters * One of two surviving

Boeing P-26 Peashooter The Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" was the first American production all-metal fighter aircraft and the first pursuit monoplane to enter squadron service with the United States Army Air Corps. Designed and built by Boeing, the prototype first flew in ...

fighters * A

Bede BD-5 The Bede BD-5 Micro is a series of small, single-seat homebuilt aircraft created in the late 1960s by US aircraft designer Jim Bede and introduced to the market primarily in kit form by the now-defunct Bede Aircraft Corporation in the early 19 ...

, 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 The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

fighter * A Japanese balloon bomb like the one that killed six U.S. civilians in Oregon during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Lockheed Martin X-35 The Lockheed Martin X-35 is a concept demonstrator aircraft (CDA) developed by Lockheed Martin for the Joint Strike Fighter program. The X-35 was declared the winner over the competing Boeing X-32 and a developed, armed version went on to ente ...

Joint Strike Fighter Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a development and acquisition program intended to replace a wide range of existing fighter, strike, and ground attack aircraft for the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands ...

, prototype of the

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather Stealth aircraft, stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both Air superiority fighter, air superiority and attack ...

Grumman F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the ...

fighter involved in the

Gulf of Sidra incident (1989) On 4 January 1989, two Grumman F-14 Tomcats of the United States Navy shot down two Libyan-operated Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 Floggers which the American aircrews believed were attempting to engage and attack them, as had happened eight years pri ...

. * The ''

Gossamer Albatross The ''Gossamer Albatross'' is a human-powered aircraft built by American aeronautical engineer Dr Paul B MacCready's company AeroVironment. On June 12, 1979, it completed a successful crossing of the English Channel to win the second Kremer ...

'', 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 ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. It tells the story ...

'' * The

Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer The Scaled Composites Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer ( registered N277SF) is an aircraft designed by Burt Rutan in which Steve Fossett first flew a solo nonstop airplane flight around the world in slightly more than 67 hours (2 days 19 h ...

piloted by

Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett (April 22, 1944 – September 3, 2007) was an American businessman and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer. He was the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon and in a fixed-wing aircraf ...

for the first solo nonstop and nonrefueled circumnavigation of Earth * The ''Winnie Mae'', a

Lockheed Vega The Lockheed Vega is an American five- to seven-seat high-wing monoplane airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation starting in 1927. It became famous for its use by a number of record-breaking pilots who were attracted to the rugged and very l ...

piloted by

Wiley Post Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was a famed American aviator during the interwar period and the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high-altitude flying, Post helped develop on ...

* The first aircraft operated by FedEx, a

Dassault Falcon 20 The Dassault Falcon 20 is a French business jet developed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. The first business jet developed by the firm, it became the first of a family of business jets to be produced under the same name; of these, both t ...

* A piece of fabric from the LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'' that survived the ''Hindenburg'' disaster. *

Mercury-Atlas 10 Mercury-Atlas 10 (MA-10) was a cancelled early crewed space mission, which would have been the last flight in NASA's Mercury program. It was planned as a three-day extended mission, to launch in late 1963; the spacecraft, ''Freedom 7-II'', would ...

unused

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

spacecraft *

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

Sikorsky HH-52 Seaguard The Sikorsky HH-52 Seaguard (company designation S-62) was an early amphibious helicopter designed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. It was the first of the company's amphibious rotorcraft to fly. The S- ...

helicopter * A Sikorsky JRS-1 twin-engine aircraft, one of only three surviving aircraft from the

Attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

* 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 The NASA Pathfinder and NASA Pathfinder Plus were the first two aircraft developed as part of an evolutionary series of solar- and fuel-cell-system-powered unmanned aerial vehicles. AeroVironment, Inc. developed the vehicles under NASA's Envi ...

, an early solar powered aircraft * A Piasecki PV-2

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

* A French Caudron G.4 bomber * A German Focke-Wulf Fw 190F fighter/bomber * A British

Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft's ...

Army cooperation aircraft The army cooperation aircraft was an inter-war concept of an aircraft capable of support of ground units in a variety of roles. Army cooperation planes combined the roles of artillery spotter aircraft, liaison, reconnaissance plane and close air su ...

* 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 The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing ...

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 The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to Novem ...

* A

Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first he ...

helicopter * A Bell H-13 Sioux helicopter * A Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter * A

Boeing-Stearman Model 75 The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane formerly used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known ...

biplane

trainer aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristi ...

* A

Grumman A-6E Intruder The Grumman A-6 Intruder is an American twinjet all-weather attack aircraft developed and manufactured by American aircraft company Grumman Aerospace and operated by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. It was designed in response to a 1957 r ...

ground-attack aircraft * A Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk fighter * A Vought F4U-1D Corsair fighter * A

Piper J-3 Cub The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is Pi ...

* A Grumman G-22 Gulfhawk II * An

Aeronca C-2 The Aeronca C-2 is an American light monoplane designed by Jean A. Roche and built by Aeronca Aircraft. Development Roche Monoplane Jean A. Roche was a U.S. Army engineer at McCook Field airfield in Dayton, Ohio. Roche developed an aircraf ...

ultralight aircraft * The

Stanley Nomad The Stanley Nomad is an American mid-wing, V-tailed, single seat glider that was designed and constructed by Robert M. Stanley in 1938.Said, Bob: ''1983 Sailplane Directory, Soaring Magazine'', page 64, Soaring Society of America November 198 ...

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

* An Arrow Sport A2 * A

Space Systems/Loral SSL, formerly Space Systems/Loral, LLC (SS/L), of Palo Alto, California, is a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Maxar Technologies. SSL designs and builds satellites and space systems for a wide variety of government and commercial cus ...

FS-1300 communications satellite, previously a ground spare for

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially lau ...

* The

Shuttle Radar Topography Mission The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is an international research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale from 56°S to 60°N, to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Ea ...

payload that flew on

STS-99 STS-99 was a Space Shuttle mission using ''Endeavour'', that launched on 11 February 2000 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The primary objective of the mission was the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) project. This was also the last s ...

. *

Bob Hoover Robert Anderson Hoover (January 24, 1922 – October 25, 2016) was an American fighter pilot, test pilot, flight instructor, and record-setting air show aviator. Hoover flew Spitfires in the United States Army Air Forces during World W ...

's Shrike Commander * Gondola of Breitling Orbiter 3, the first balloon to fly around the world non-stop * Gondola C-49 of Goodyear Blimp ''Columbia'' (N4A), class

GZ-20 The Goodyear GZ-20/20A was a class of non-rigid airship or blimp introduced in 1969 by The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in the United States as its signature promotional aircraft, the Goodyear Blimp. The design is based on the previous G ...

, and Gondola of Goodyear ''Pilgrim'' *A Ohka "Cherry Blossom" aircraft. Used a warhead at the tip, and was used for kamikaze. 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, and plans call for the eventual installation of over 200 aircraft. The current list is maintained at th
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. The SR-71 that is on display in the museum was used as

Jetfire Jetfire is the name of several fictional characters from the '' Transformers'' franchise. He is almost always depicted as an Autobot with flight capabilities and a jet or space shuttle as an alternate mode. In some continuities he is a former Dec ...

, a

Decepticon The Decepticons are the main antagonists in the fictional continuities of the ''Transformers'' multimedia franchise. They are depicted as a faction of sentient robotic lifeforms led by Megatron, identified by a purple face-like insignia. Capa ...

who switches sides to become an

Autobot The Autobots are the main protagonists in the fictional continuities of the Transformers multimedia franchise, and are depicted in a collection of various toys, cartoons, films, graphic novels, and paperback books first introduced in 1984. The ...

, in the film. In the film, it is referred to simply as the National Air and Space Museum.

References

External links