Saturday, June 2, 2012

Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum

Guess what my favorite airplane museum is?  The Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy National Air and Space Museum.  By far.   I couldn't believe how many artifacts were inside the ginormous hangar.  And, just like all the other Smithsonian museums we have visited, we weren't able to see everything during our five-hour visit.  I guess that means we'll have to go back another time!
 Evelyn knew right away that this plane was a Wright brothers plane.  She was right - it's a replica of the 1908 Wright military flyer.  (The real one suffered major damage in a crash.)
Here's a picture of the Enola Gay - the B29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb.  Being this close to history was surreal.
We had to wait about 20 minutes to ride the elevator to the 7th floor of the observation tower, but it was worth it.  We watched planes land on two runways of Dulles airport.  Look closely at the picture below, and you can see a plane on the left side.
Now for my favorite part of the museum - the space shuttle Discovery exhibit.  The Discovery has only been at the museum since April.  This space shuttle flew 39 missions from 1984 to 2011, and it spent a total of 365 days in space.  It looks like it's been through the wringer, which is what made it so cool for me.  I mean, this thing has been to outer space and back over three dozen times!
One more picture of my favorite exhibit...


Disobedient Tiger said...

i am so excited the discovery is already on display!!! the enterprise is in MUCH better shape...