The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the companion facility to the National Air & Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a free open house on Saturday. The center, with its two huge hangars — the Boeing Aviation Hangar and the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar — display thousands of aviation and space artifacts, including a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a Concorde, and the space shuttle Discovery. The center also offers the Airbus IMAX Theater and the Donald D. Engen Observation Tower, which gives you a 360-degree bird’s-eye view of Washington Dulles International Airport and the surrounding area.
The open house, a first for the Chantilly, Va., facility, will allow visitors to enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at historic artifacts, documents, and works of art not on public display and see what it takes to collect, preserve, and restore them. Visitors also will be able to:
Tour the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar and see the Museum’s current projects such as the Curtiss SB2C-5 Helldiver.
Meet curators, conservators, archivists, and other specialists, and learn how they care for objects in the Museum’s collection.
Learn how the aircraft are hung for display in the Boeing Aviation Hangar.*
Participate in hands-on activities designed for adults and children.
See how the most fragile artifacts are stored and cared for.
Discover the research that is needed before a restoration project can begin.
Get some tips for photographing objects in the Museum from a staff photographer.
See the technology behind giant-screen films in the Airbus IMAX Theater.*
*Space is limited. Free, timed tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information on this event, click here.
Photo by the Smithsonian Institution
