July 2019
On my final return to Iraq from the USA, my brother was the one to take me to the airport (Dulles, Washington, DC). We agreed it was far more civilized to book a hotel room near the airport and stay one night. Additionally, he really wanted to see the nearby National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center which held a lot of historic aircraft. I have to admit I was only mildly interested, but since my brother was generous enough to take me to the airport and use some of his hotel points to pay for the hotel, I certainly was not going to rain on his parade. As has so often happened in my travels near and far, the things I was "forced" to go to or had only passing interest in often turned out to be the most amazing.
As a kid I was always fascinated with the Air & Space Museum on the National Mall in downtown DC. I loved the exhibits, but especially those about space exploration. Due to the size of the aircraft on display, even that massive building was soon out of space. By late 2003, the Air & Space Museum "Annex" out by Dulles Airport was opened. I heard about it from many people, but never actually met anyone who had gone. It ended up being absolutely mind-blowing!
The Center features two massive hangars. The ten-story-high Boeing Aviation Hangar displays aircraft hanging at several levels, angled as if in flight. Larger, heavier aircraft are displayed on the floor. Multi-level walkways rising some four stories high provide a wide variety of perspectives from which to view the aircraft and spacecraft on display. Glass cases display thousands of smaller items. On opening day, only 80 aircraft were on display, versus today when there are 170. Highlights include a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest jet ever flown; the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb during World War II; the first supersonic commercial airliner, the Concorde; and the first pressurized airliner, the Boeing 307 Stratoliner Clipper Flying Cloud.
The James S. McDonnell Space Hangar also displays objects on multi levels. Dominating the hangar is the Space Shuttle Discovery, which is surrounded by missiles, rockets, space capsules, satellites, and small objects in display cases. The hangar opened to the public in 2004. Besides the Discovery, highlights include the Gemini IV space capsule, in which astronauts Jim Lovell and Frank Borman lived in orbit for 14 days in 1965; the Mobile Quarantine Facility in which the Apollo 11 astronauts stayed after their flight to prevent the possible spread of Moon contagions; and one of the most historically important developments in U.S. rocket technology, the Redstone rocket.
Construction of the Center continued until late 2010, when the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, the Archives, Collections Processing Unit, Emil Buehler Conservation Laboratory, and Collections Storage Facility were completed. Visitors can now see restoration work in progress from a mezzanine overlooking the Restoration Hangar.
The massive main hanger was bursting with suspended airplanes from different historical periods like something out of a science fiction film on time travel. Many of the planes were famous either specifically (the Enola Gay) or as a class (Concorde). It was awe-inspiring to walk among them. The amount of information to take in was staggering. I would gladly visit again (even better on a tour) to understand more about many of the aircraft on display. We felt insignificant walking around and under all the suspended planes.
Another smaller hanger dedicated to space exploration had the last existing Space Shuttle as well as copies of many explorational craft (to scale) like Voyager and Mariner. Much of the Gemini and Apollo mission equipment was also on display. Again, I was just dumbstruck. I thought of the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow from my 1987 trip [see: Beijing to Athens] and how absolutely empty and uninteresting it was. The exhibits of space exploration out at the "Dulles Museum" were also lightyears better than what were showcased in the "limited-space downtown" main location. It was my favorite part of the museum.
Additionally, there was a large hangar for aircraft restoration and visitors could peer down into it from an observation platform (behind glass). The amount of work going into restoring and maintaining just ONE of the hundreds of planes on display was equally fascinating. I wished more museums had windows into the "behind the scenes" workings of each collection. As visitors, we just admire the exhibits and read a bit of history, but no thought is given to what shape the display items were in when they were acquired and how much work was required to make them "presentable" to the viewing public. Again, the "wow-ness" factor was there.
Just before heading off to the Middle East for my final tour before COVID hit, my brother convinced me to go to the "other" Air & Space Museum. I went with muted expectations and it turned out to be one of the best museums in the whole Smithsonian collection for me!