The most visited museum in the world takes parents and children alike on a pioneering journey from the first manned motorized flight to the most recent space exploration - "infinity and beyond!"
Flight pioneers This museum was the Smithsonian's bicentennial gift to the nation. More than 10 million visitors a year explore its monumental glass and granite galleries. The collection - began as early as 1861, when the first secretary of the Smithsonian urged experiments in balloon flight - includes the Wright Brother's 1903 Flyer; Charles Lindberg's Spirit of St. Louis; Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1, in which he broke the sound barrier and The Voyager, in which Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew nonstop around the world.
Into Space Among the spectacular rockets, missiles, and space vehicles in the Space Halls you can see the Columbia Space Station, the Apollo-Soyuz spacecraft, Skylab, and lunar exploration vehicles. The Steven F. Udvat-Hazy Center, a new display, opened at Dulles International Airport in December 2003. (See the Steven F. Udvat-Hazy Center link for fantastic pictures taken in the new building. It is the size of three football fields and is ten stories tall and has on display, the Concord, a 707, and the Memphis Bell among other displays.)
