Washington DC: Day Three

What a day we had when we visited the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center affiliated with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  Located about 35 minutes northwest of Washington DC, this facility consists of two huge airplane hangars, an observation tower to watch the airplanes land incoming to Dulles Airport and the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar.  Highlighting this museum are: the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Lockhead SR-71 Blackbird and an Air France Concorde. I'll let my photos speak for themselves, just a few words needed.

Here's the impressive entrance, notice the observation tower.

There are 3 levels of aircraft displayed in two huge hangars: the floor, those suspended in the middle air space and those closest to the ceiling.  Many planes were suspended in some form of flying motion. The walkways traversed two levels so you can get a closer look at those suspended from the ceiling.  This is a 760,000 square foot facility!  There is no way I can identify all of these planes, although Ronnie could ID many of them.

There were lots of display cases full of pilot memorabilia, there were airplane engines, hot air balloon baskets, ultralites, helicopters, satellites, several Mercury and Apollo space capsules, rockets and missiles, aircraft from WW1 and WW2, even the model of the "mothership" used in the movie Close Encounters.

This is the fastest plane on earth, the Lockhead SR-71A Blackbird.

This particular aircraft was the highlight for me..the Space Shuttle Discovery

A close up view of the heat shields, each individually made and adhered.

There was a big screen TV placed here that replayed a 6 minute video of Discovery's last launch.

Mercury and Apollo capsules. The tan one on the left side of the photo is from Apollo 11.

Look at this Airstream made into a Mobile Quarantine Facility.

This is the Red Bull Stratos Capsule that Felix Baumgartner jumped from in October 2012.  The capsule was sent into the stratosphere with a helium balloon where he jumped out of it to set multiple records.  1. Skydiving 24 miles up. 2. Broke the sound barrier while falling at 843 mph. (Mach 1.25)  3.  The first person to break the sound barrier at an exit vertical freefall.

We were also amazed to see an Air France Concorde.

All of these airplanes have some sort of significant history.

We even saw the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay.

In June of  2015 we visited the Bradbury Science Center in Los Alamos, NM.

There we saw how the atomic bomb "Little Boy" was developed. I had another "thought-provoking" moment now that I was standing before the actual airplane that dropped that bomb.

This museum also houses a facility to restore these important pieces of air flight history.

After about 6000 steps this day, we made it up to the observation deck where we could see the Dulles Airport runway system.  And, unbelievably, we got to see an Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial airplane, come in for a smooth landing.

And, as were were leaving the museum, 5 tour buses of WW2 and Koren War veterans from the Chicago area were arriving to see this exhibit.  Today is D-Day, June 6, 2018.

Another day being amazed at all there is to see and explore while we ease on down the road!

More later..