Named after aviation entrepreneur Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, whose $65 million donation made its construction possible, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center stands as one of the world’s premier aerospace museums.
Near Dulles Airport and the companion facility to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., the massive, 760,000-square-foot facility opened in 2003 and showcases hundreds of historically significant air- and spacecraft in an open, hangar-like setting.
Visitors can marvel at iconic aircraft, including the Space Shuttle Discovery, the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane, and the Concorde supersonic airliner. Thousands of smaller artifacts detail aviation’s evolution from the Wright brothers to modern spaceflight.
The Center features the Donald D. Engen Observation Tower, offering panoramic views of aircraft operations at Dulles Airport. The Airbus IMAX Theater presents immersive films on a screen over six stories high. In the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, guests observe museum specialists meticulously restoring historic aircraft. AirAndSpace.si.edu
This article originally appeared in the Best of Virginia 2025 issue.
