Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

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Entrance to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Entrance to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Aerial view of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Aerial view of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.

NASM has always had more artifacts than could be displayed at the main museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C (Most of the collection had been stored, unavailable to visitors, at the Paul Garber facility in the Silver Hill section of Prince George's County, Maryland.) The Center was made possible by a US$65 million gift in October 1999 to the Smithsonian Institution by Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, an immigrant from Hungary and co-founder of the International Lease Finance Corporation.[1] Construction of the Center required fifteen years of preparation and was built by Hensel Phelps Construction Co.[2]

Plans call for additional phases that will move the restoration facility and the museum archives to the site from their current location at the Garber facility.

Contents

Space shuttle Enterprise in the space wing of Udvar-Hazy
Space shuttle Enterprise in the space wing of Udvar-Hazy
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

Opened in December 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 museum is still in the process of installing exhibits, but 141 aircraft and 148 large space artifacts are already on display as of June 2007[4] , and plans call for the eventual installation of over 200 aircraft.[5] It also contains an IMAX theater.

The Udvar-Hazy Center is located near Dulles Airport. From downtown Washington, DC, the easiest route runs from I-66 West to VA 267 (Dulles Toll Road) West to VA 28 South, then follow the signs to a specially-marked exit off of VA 28 that leads directly to the museum parking lot.

Unlike most museums in the Washington, DC area, there is a fee of $12 USD to park at Udvar-Hazy because of its close proximity to Dulles Airport; the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority requested a parking fee higher than the least expensive parking fee at Dulles due to the possibility of travelers taking advantage of lower-cost parking at a non-airport location, as well as the financial and insurance liabilities associated with airport patrons parking on non-airport property. The fee is assessed per vehicle entering the facility. Parking is free after 5:00 pm.

While it is possible to get to Udvar-Hazy from the National Air & Space Museum using mass transit, there is no direct transit route on either the DC-based Metro Rail or bus system to the museum. Visitors wishing to take mass transit to Udvar-Hazy from downtown DC should take Metro Bus #5A to Dulles Airport (cost varies per time of day), then catch the Virginia Regional Transit shuttle to the museum ($0.50 USD per rider). The entire commute takes approximately 80 minutes. Contrary to what several tourism guides suggest, there is no shuttle directly from the National Air & Space museum on the National Mall directly to the Udvar-Hazy Center (it was discontinued in 2006). The National Air & Space Museum has a flier available to patrons with shuttle bus schedules and bus & route information.

The Interior of the Udvar-Hazy Center
The Interior of the Udvar-Hazy Center

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Triplett, W. "Hold everything!" Smithsonian. Vol. 34, December 2003, p. 59.
  3. ^ http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/dornier_do335.htm
  4. ^ Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Fact Sheet
  5. ^ Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center - Looking Ahead Accessed September 30, 2006

Panorama from the central catwalk
Panorama from the central catwalk
Panorama looking at the Concorde aircraft
Panorama looking at the Concorde aircraft
Panorama from tower
Panorama from tower
180° View of Space Room
180° View of Space Room
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