Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia

Sancerres at Sunset

Planes hang from above. Rockets stand tall. Artifacts proclaim the story of air and space exploration, and what it has meant for war and peace, art and science, hope and heartache.

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, is the partner facility to the Smithsonian‘s main National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Its two massive display hangars house dozens of historically significant air- and spacecraft, along with thousands of smaller artifacts. Among the most significant are:

Enola Gay

On August 6, 1945, the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9, the United States bombed Nagasaki. 

SR-71 Blackbird

Lockheed developed its top-secret, stealthy SR-71 Blackbird, a long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ aircraft, used for aerial reconnaissance — surveillance and intelligence-gathering.

Discovery

The Space Race was also important during the Cold War. Discovery was America’s third Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle.

The Udvar-Hazy Center also offers thousands of lesser-known artifacts to view.

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