*** Welcome to piglix ***

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
StevenFUdvarHazy.png
Aerial view of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in 2004
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Northern Virginia
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Location of the Udvar-Hazy Center
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Virginia
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Location of the Udvar-Hazy Center
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in the US
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Location of the Udvar-Hazy Center
Established December 15, 2003; 13 years ago (2003-12-15)
Location Chantilly, Virginia, United States
Coordinates 38°54′41″N 77°26′39″W / 38.911444°N 77.444111°W / 38.911444; -77.444111
Type Aviation museum
Visitors 1,186,493 (2009)
Public transit access Fairfax Connector No. 983 from Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station via Dulles International Airport
Website airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center/

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the 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. It holds numerous exhibits, including the Space Shuttle Discovery and the Enola Gay.

The 760,000-square-foot (71,000 m2) facility was made possible by a $65 million gift in October 1999 to the Smithsonian Institution by Steven F. Udvar-Házy, an immigrant from Hungary and co-founder of the International Lease Finance Corporation, an aircraft leasing corporation. The main NASM building, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C, had always contained more artifacts than could be displayed, and most of the collection had been stored, unavailable to visitors, at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Silver Hill, Maryland. A substantial addition to the center encompassing restoration, conservation and collection-storage facilities was completed in 2010. Restoration facilities and museum archives were moved from the museum's Garber facility to the new sections of the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Designed by Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, who also designed the National Air and Space Museum building, the Center required 15 years of preparation and was built by Hensel Phelps Construction Co. The exhibition areas comprise two large hangars, the 293,707-square-foot (27,286.3 m2) Boeing Aviation Hangar and the 53,067-square-foot (4,930.1 m2) James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. The Donald D. Engen Observation Tower provides a view of landing operations at adjacent Washington Dulles International Airport. The museum also contains an IMAX theater. A taxiway connects the museum to the airport.


...
Wikipedia

...